Mask of Pain
by JamesK716
Summary: The rise and fall of Mask, and the immense Pain he brings on the Warriors of Vale. My first fan fic, COMPLETE
1. Beginning: Declaration of New Vale

I Do. Not. Own. Golden. Sun. Note that there is Valeshipping, Steamshipping and Duskshipping in this story. Also this story was inspired by Flash Gunner's _That Incredible Feeling. The FelixXKarst stuff was brought to my mind from Martin III's fic._

**Chapter 1, **_**Beginning**_**: Declaration of New Vale**

Isaac hurried to meet with Jenna before going to the massive celebration of New Vale. Isaac knew he was late so he sprinted to the bridge they had decided to meet at. As soon as Isaac stepped on the bridge Jenna turned around, and Isaac stared at the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life.

"ISAAC, I was wondering when you'd get here" Jenna said as she punched him in the shoulder and smiled. After the Golden Sun event, Isaac and Jenna went on a few adventures. Together they visited the many grand cities of Weyard. It had been in that journey when both realized they truly loved each other. Of course, they had loved each other before but that was just as friends, after their journey ended three months ago, Jenna and Isaac had become even closer than before.

"I am sorry I'm late Jenna" Said Isaac, he then leaned in and kissed her. He loved this girl, and he was sure that they were meant to be together. "Does that make up for being late?" He asked with a smirk.

"Almost there is just one more thing." Said Jenna, as she grabbed the back of his head with both hands and pulled him into a passionate kiss. Then Jenna grabbed his hands, "There I think I'm good now" she said with a smile.

"Then lets head to the celebration," said Isaac as he walked with Jenna. Although they had become extremely close over the past two years, they had only actually started dating about two months now, but they had tried to keep it a secret, of course Garet knew and their parents knew but beyond that no one knew, especially not Felix. Isaac was scared that Felix would hurt him if and when Felix found out.

Isaac put his arm around Jenna's shoulder as they walked to the town hall. Then Jenna leaned her head on his shoulder. "You know that were going to have to tell everyone right?" Jenna asked in her kindest, most patient voice.

"I know it's just that… that, well I'm nervous" Isaac admitted. He wanted to act all tough, but he also didn't want to lie to Jenna. Ultimately his honesty outweighed his toughness.

"Nervous!" Jenna stepped away from Isaac "Nervous about what? getting hurt by Felix? He would only hurt you if you hurt me, which will never happen right?" Jenna said slightly loud. She already knew the answer to the question, but it was simply her personality to be loud.

"I would never do anything to hurt you" Isaac calmly said to her.

"So then there is nothing to worry about" Jenna said as she smiled. Then the young Fire Adept began to skip ahead, which caused Isaac to jog.

New Vale, as it was commonly referred to, had just finished being rebuilt after almost 2 years of labor. The town was a bit bigger than before but not Tolbi sized. New Vale had a river through it and if you followed the river south a lake about the size of a really big pool. The lake and river were a light blue and they were also fresh water not salt water. The town itself had only a few houses. It had a house for every family which numbered to six-teen houses. However, the town had a large pile of land so every house was spread out and had plenty of space between them. Most of the houses were pretty generic, they all had the same architecture style; the only real difference was the number and size of the rooms. They all contained a kitchen, meal table, attic and at least one bed room. Beyond that, the houses fit to the families needs. Felix and Jenna's house was fairly large, had a medium sized living room and a kitchen to the corner of the living room. It had a dining room behind the kitchen and a bedroom for Jenna and Felix's parents that was across from the kitchen. The parent's room also had a bathroom built in. Upstairs there was two bathrooms and two bedrooms for Felix and Jenna. Isaac's home was a smaller version, having the same bottom floor, only much smaller and a single bedroom upstairs. New Vale had stone roads for walking and a central marketplace where they had a blacksmith's forge, an Inn, and several merchant stands. In the middle of town there was a huge pavilion and behind that was the town hall. The pavilion could be used for dancing, eating or putting food on the tables. The town hall was the biggest building in town, and was the most beautiful building. This was mainly due to the carved engravings it had on the wood inside and out. In the center of town there was a peninsula that contained in the middle of it a huge Psyenergy stone. For the mean time everyone in town were congregating at the pavilion.

When the young couple arrived at the pavilion for the celebration, the mayor was just finishing his speech on how long New Vale would last. Isaac walked away from Jenna trying to find Garet. Usually this wouldn't be too hard as he was tall and buff, however, with so many people around Isaac couldn't see him. Isaac thought he sniff a heavenly smell coming from his left. With a smirk, he turned to his left and saw, as he thought he would, his best friend Garet; the loud obnoxious Mars Adept who was well meaning.

Garet had a pile of food in one arm and in the other he was grabbing more. Isaac chuckled to himself as he walked down to Garet and grabbed a roll from Garet's stash, "Hey don't touch my... oh! It's you, how you likin the Celebration?" Garet asked just before he stuffed a chicken leg into his face. Isaac cringed at how his friend ate. He stuffed and stuff into his mouth. If he ever stopped training then Garet would become one fat dude.

"It's been pretty fun but I only just got here." Isaac answered as he readied a plate for himself. He filled most of his plate with bread and chicken but also grabbed a large buttery potato.

"Is Jenna Here?" Garet asked between his mouthfuls of chicken. Garet had known Isaac loved Jenna since they were little kids. It just took Isaac himself years to figure it out. Garet himself loved Mia; the beautiful, kind, sweet, thoughtful, and shy Mercury Adept from Imil. Unfortunately for Garet, she also lived there and had only come to New Vale for the celebration.

"Yeah she's standing by her brother." Isaac told Garet as he finished piling up his plate. "Come on, let's go get her." Garet nodded and the two gather their childhood friend from her brother. They walked to the edge of the crowd but there weren't any seats left; New Vale was packed full with the delegates of other cities, who had also brought their entourages. So the trio stood their awkwardly for a moment.

"Well what are we standing around here for LETS EAT" Garet loudly shouted. His food was getting cold, and while Garet would eat any food, he preferred warm, and since their food was just getting colder standing there, he wanted to inhale-or rather eat it.

"Can you be a bit quieter Garet?" Isaac asked as he scratched his head at his friends' awkward outburst of noise.

"Hah oh sorry ok Lets go up there" Garet said as he pointed to a large tree on top of a twenty-foot high cliff. Although slightly high, the ground curved around the cliff and made it a hill on either side of the cliff, so it was easy to reach the spot under the tree. Isaac nodded and walked up to the tree and sat, Jenna also sat, her plate filled with nachos and spicy fajitas. Isaac gave her a curious look.

"What? I like spicy food. It probably comes with being a fire Adept." Jenna said as she crunched down on her first fajita.

Next Garet came up and sat on Isaac's other side. His plate contained food of various types, including but not limited to: Pizza, hotdogs, burgers, turkey, chicken, fries, fried chicken, rolls, other breads, cheese, beef fajitas, mozzarella stitches, buffalo meat, wolf meat, and finally, spicy jalapeño soup made with the hottest spices in all of Weyard. When the trio were seated they began conversing about what jobs they were going to get now that New Vale had been built. As Jenna was eating, she saw Felix looking around and assumed he was looking for her. She waved to him and he saw her hand. Felix, with Sheba with him, jogged up to the trio and sat next to Jenna. Felix had a huge plate filled with food while Sheba had a small plate with a small steak and a small potato. After a moment, Garet had finished his food and went down to get more. While gather seconds, he ran into Mia, literally.

"OH. I'm so sorry Mia, I didn't see you there." Garet said as he reached out and picked her up. Quickly he incinerated her dirtied food so she wouldn't have to pick it up.

"It's ok Garet, I'm sure it was an accident." Mia said with a convincing smile. Truth was, she had quite a temper. Luckily, the first thing being a healer taught was patience. It was odd; Mia had seen Garet act like a goof ball or a jerk. During the united journey to Mars Lighthouse, Garet had always been questioning Felix about why Isaac wasn't in charge. Yet, when conversing with Jenna, he was a goof, always cracking jokes or being the butt of a joke. The odd thing was, Garet never acted that way if he saw Mia. He would instantly become the perfect gentlemen, kind and courteous. It confused her, but she didn't mind, it was kind of nice.

"Mia do you have a table? Because if you don't you could sit with us up their." Garet pointed to the tree on the cliff.

Mia smiled before she answered. "I would love to Garet, thank you." Mia nodded her head in a yes as she gathered more food. Then, they walked to the tree and sat down. Garet was slightly surprised to see that Piers, Kraden and Ivan had joined them, but he wasn't upset about it. They were all close friends. Currently, Kraden and Ivan were engaged in a scientific philosophical debate with each other. Felix, Piers and Isaac were conversing about weapons and defense. Sheba and Jenna were gossiping and talking about shoes.

When Jenna noticed Mia had joined the group, she nudged Isaac. "Isaac, I think we should tell them." Jenna whispered, surprisingly well, into Isaac's ear.

"Well, I suppoooooooose, we could." Isaac said in fear. He knew Jenna would take that as a yes; and he was right.

Jenna leaped up the moment she heard 'suppose' and coughed. "Hey guys I have an announcement to make." Everyone turned to look at her with a questioning face. "It's official, me and Isaac are together." The group did a universal shrug and went back to their conversations. "What? Not even an congratulations?" Jenna was shocked.

"Well, no, it was obvious when you two came back from your trip that you were dating." Mia sweetly replied. "The only really surprised person here is Felix and do you really think he would congratulate you on getting a boyfriend?" Mia whispered into Jenna's ear.

"Oh, I guess. But Mia, we weren't together until a month after we came back." Jenna said, still hurt that no one had congratulated her.

Mia gave her a questioning look but didn't argue. Instead she said "Congratulations Jenna." Jenna beamed at Mia and tackled her in a hug.

Meanwhile, Isaac, who was blushing, and nervous, had gone to acquire some dessert. He was reaching for a cookie when he felt a hand grab him.

"Wha-" He started before seeing it was Felix. "What do you want Felix?" he asked

"I want you to know, that if you **EVER** hurt Jenna then you'll be in for a world of hurt." Isaac nodded readily. Not wanting to be punched in the face by an enraged, overprotective, older brother. "You BETTER be telling the truth." Felix said with a finger pointed in his face.

Afterwards, the two walked back together. "Hey Felix?" It was a question, as to if they were on talking turns or not.

"What?" Felix asked. The older Venus Adept had decided it was best to stay on good terms with Isaac so that he could stay on good terms with his sister.

"Have you ever dated anyone?" Isaac was hoping to get some advice. Garet had told him a TON of pick-up lines, and stupid jokes, none of which he used. He felt afraid to ask Kraden, who was old fashioned and Piers, who had never mentioned girls. Ivan was too young, so that left Felix.

Felix chuckled "heheh, yeah. You remember Karst right?" Felix had loved Karst, she had been his soul, the very reason he had made it through his Prox training. Felix laughed, this time more obviously, at Isaac's opened mouth. "During my days at Prox, she became my best friend. Eventually, we kissed, When she got stronger I had to keep up. So when she became powerful I did too. It was different, a girlfriend as a rival." Felix explained, with a smirk.

"Cool, thanks Felix, maybe we'll talk later." Isaac said as the two earth Adepts arrived at the eating spot. Together they sat, and began conversing with the other Warriors of Vale.


	2. Beginning: The Truth Comes Out

**Chapter 2, B**_**eginning**_**: The Truth Comes Out**

The conversations were light after the feast, dealing with things like, crops and the rebuilding of Vale. Everyone was enjoying themselves, especially Garet and Isaac who were sitting with their favorite women in the entire world; Mia and Jenna respectively. Garet was currently engaging in a conversation about Kolima Forest with Mia and Piers; while Isaac and Jenna were talking with Felix and Sheba about equipment. Kraden and Ivan were still debating about some scientific philosophical agenda. After, a round of desert, the group sat back and relaxed.

After a few conversations, one somehow started up about the future, and what to do in the coming days. "Well I will return back to my studies" Kraden stated to everyone. He was fully confident in his decision. He had spent far too long out in the field, at his tender old age, it was time to begin writing his own books rather than searching for others.

"Well I think I'm going to try to get a job with the blacksmith." Isaac said as reached a hand over Jenna's shoulder and pulled her close. Isaac had always had a knack for weapons. Sunny the blacksmith had taught Isaac a few things, and it had ultimately become a hobby of Isaacs.

"I got a job moving merchandise between Kalay and New Vale. Its hard work, but the pay is the best I could get, and it'll help me work off my meals." Garet told them with a grin. Garet knew he practically inhaled food. But he couldn't help it, he was a growing boy. "What about you Mia?" Garet asked, as he was actually curious about her plans.

Mia smiled as she answered "I am going to return to Imil and become the great healer there. It had always been my destiny." Mia explained sweetly. It was true. Mia always knew she had to return to Imil. She had even known when she had joined with Isaac during his adventure.

"Well, I for one am going to sail the seas. That's my calling; sailing is my life and I like it that way." Piers announced slightly unexpectedly. Everyone knew he loved the sea, but they didn't expect him to spend the rest of his life sailing, instead, they expected him to settle down with someone and pop out some Mercury Adepts.

"I am going to begin an apprenticeship with Kraden. There is so much to learn, and well, to put it simply, Kraden is the best." Ivan said with zeal. This was no surprise, everyone knew Ivan loved learning and that Kraden was smart, it seemed like a normal choice.

"Well, I for one actually got a job as a baker. It's great really; I don't even need an oven." Jenna said, smiling at her supposed skill. Felix shook his head; he was probably the only one who had ever seen, let alone eat her cooking; and from experience he could say it was bad, REALLY bad.

To change the subject, Felix spoke up about his future plans. "To all of your likely shock, I think I will be leaving New Vale for a while. I have some business I need to attend to." Felix didn't say any more, he didn't want the group worrying.

Stupidly however, Felix forgot to include Jenna in his plan. "What do you mean, 'business to attend to'!" Jenna nearly shouted out while using air quotes.

"Yeah, I'm going… to the north, I have unfinished business in the Mars Lighthouse." Felix half-truthed. It wasn't a complete lie, but it also wasn't the entire truth, but Jenna seemed to accept it, so Felix didn't worry about it. Ultimately, it got late, so the Warriors of Vale slowly, but surely left for their homes. Quietly Isaac slipped his hand into Jenna's and started to walk with her. They didn't get far though, as Garet interrupted their romance.

"HEY Isaac," Garet shouted as he began running back to the young couple. As he caught his breath he let out his information. "My grandpa, the mayor, asked me to tell you to go and talk to him about something." Garet told between long breathes.

"Ok thanks for telling me" Isaac said as he and Jenna made a U-turn and walked down to the new and large city hall. When they arrived the duo noticed the elaborate designs on the inside of the building. Ultimately the two made their way down to the Mayor's office.

"Isaac, hello, thank you for coming, and you to Miss Jenna," the Mayor said as he shook their hands. Isaac nodded and sat when the Mayor motioned him to sit. "This is a bit embarrassing for me to say, but New Vale is having some financial troubles. Thanks to Vault and Ivan's connections with Kalay, we were able to build. But now that we have finished rebuilding Kalay and Vault won't help us anymore and we don't have any real means of income – everyone spent any money they had left on rebuilding so taxes wouldn't work. So, I called you two in here today to ask you to win Colosso."

Both Adepts were slightly surprised, Isaacs' was a more pleasant surprise. He had competed and won Colosso before, it had been fun. True some would say he cheated, but the rules never said not to use psyenergy. So, in essence, Isaac was thrilled to compete in Colosso again. "I would love to do that Mr. Mayor." Isaac said as he grinned. Jenna wasn't quite upset, but she was afraid that she and her friends would go into adventure mode. Jenna had enjoyed her adventures, but they were over now and she didn't want to return to them yet.

"Thank you Isaac" The Mayor said as he once again shook Isaac's hand.

The young couple then left, hands entwined. Isaac walked his girlfriend home and when they arrived at her doorstep, he pulled her into a tight embrace. He held her for a little while. Somehow, the silence was meaningful. Their bond was so strong that they didn't even need words to communicate. Eventual, Isaac let go and gave her a long romantic kiss before she smiled and walked inside.


	3. Beginning: Return to Prox

**Chapter 3, **_**Beginning**_**: Return to Prox**

Felix got up early, before dawn, determined to not allow anyone to stop him from leaving. _I hope he is awake_ Felix thought as he sprinted past the giant psyenergy stone. _Hopefully Sheba won't hate me for this, I know that she loves me but… I hope that this doesn't change that. _Felix finally reached his destination: Piers' ship. It was a large vessel, it had been one of the best of the Lemurian Fleet, but after the Jupiter Lighthouse portion of their quest, it had been gifted with wings allowing it to fly over small rocks. It proved to be vital in the remaining part of the legendary quest.

Instead of climbing aboard Felix used his powers to have the earth carry him up to the deck. Felix jumped off the newly created earth elevator and onto the ship. Felix jogged through the confusing halls and checked the various rooms for Piers. After searching two rooms, Felix found Piers asleep in a queen sized bed. "Piers wake up" Felix whispered as he pushed Piers a little. He didn't want to be rude, but for his plan to work out correctly he had to be.

"Huh… oh Felix it's you" Piers snapped to attention at the potential threat and then relaxed when he saw it was just Felix. "What do you want?" Piers asked as he sunk back into his bed and closed his eyes.

"Remember I asked your help with something?" Felix said as he became annoyed at Piers' laziness, even if the sun hadn't risen yet.

"Oh… yes that's right." Piers said. Slowly, painfully slow to to Felix, Piers stood in his undergarments, and groggily walked to his dresser where he pulled out his normal tunic and clothed himself. "So… where are we going?" Piers asked. Subtlety apparently wasn't Piers' thing.

"We need to go to the psyenergy stone in the middle of town" Felix told Piers as they left Piers' ship.

"Well… umm… okay let us go" Piers said still slightly confused as to why Felix needed Piers. Because of his anxiousness, Felix jogged while Piers only walked._ Why won't he go faster?_ Felix thought to himself. Defeated, Felix slowed to a walk. After ten minutes of walking, the dup reached the psyenergy stone. "Felix what is it you want me to do?" Piers asked at a normal voice level.

Felix let out a large breath before he spoke. "I want you to teleport me to Prox." He was putting his plan into motion faster than anyone else thought he could.

"Prox… but, why?" Piers asked, more confused than ever.

"Can you keep a secret?" Felix asked

"Yes, of course"

"I want to find Karst… we had a relationship, and I really need to talk to her; I… I need to find closure" Felix hesitantly admitted.

"Well, I can understand that. But Felix, what of Sheba?" Piers definitely understood. If there was one thing he wished he could have it would be a conversation with his deceased love.

Felix lightly chuckled before he answered. "No Piers, it may seem different, but I love Sheba like a love Jenna. She is a sister to me, nothing more. Now Piers, will you help me or not?" Felix asked as he held out his hand to Piers.

With only a mere moment of hesitation, Piers took Felix's hand and in a small blast of Psyenergy, teleported to Prox.

When they arrived, Felix began to walk away, but Piers didn't let go of Felix. After some silence Piers spoke "Felix I warn you now, I will am return in a month's time to take you back." Felix nodded slowly. "Whether you want me to or not Felix," spoke Piers, it could easily be taken as a threat, but Felix knew that Piers was merely trying to protect Felix.

"Of course, thank you Piers. Felix said, "For everything" he added after a moment's delay.

Piers nodded and watched as Felix ran off. Before he returned, Piers looked around. Prox had obviously grown in the two years since he had last been. Piers was happy for them, even if their people had tried to kill him on multiple occasions. With a final look, he teleported back to New Vale. As he walked back to his ship, Piers thought about the last time he was in Prox…

(_**FLASHBACK)**_

_A month after the _Golden Sun_ event, The Warriors of Vale realized that because Felix's parents had been brought back from the brink of death, then so to may Karst and Agatio still live. So, while the Valeans (Isaac, Felix, Jenna and Garet) stayed in New Vale to continue rebuilding, Piers, Sheba, Ivan and Mia went back to the north to check there theory. Upon questioning Puelle about Karst and Agatio, he admitted that, despite promising Felix that they would retrieve the bodies of Karst and Agatio, he had left the duo to rot in the Mars Lighthouse. When Sheba heard Puelle say the words, she slapped him, _hard._ So hard in fact, that he dropped to the ground unconscious. The quartet began the quick journey to the Mars Lighthouse just to confirm that the Proxian duo had indeed died. _

_Upon arriving at the lighthouse, the team went straight to the room where they had fought and defeated Karst and Agatio. To their horror, they had discovered the decaying and quite obviously dead Agatio. But, they did not see Karst's body. _

"_If Agatio is dead then where is Karst?" asked Sheba barely audible, as if the Doom Dragon itself were listening._

"_I do not know, but let us finish checking the rest of the lighthouse before returning to Prox" Piers said as he walked out of the room. The powerful Adepts continued to walk around the lighthouse, but found nothing else of importance. Since no one wanted to touch the disgusting, smelly, and frankly horrifying corpse of Agatio, they left it there, intent on forcing Puelle on gathering it for a funeral._

_With the absence of Felix and Isaac, Piers had assumed command of the team. After checking the rest of the lighthouse, the team concluded that Agatio died before the team had lit the lighthouse, but that Karst had held on until the Mars Lighthouse was lit, as she had promised. With a conclusion in hand, the quartet returned to Prox. When they arrived, Sheba went straight to Puelle. _

"_You demon, you deserve nothing Puelle, NOTHING AT ALL" Sheba screamed at him. She would have continued screaming if not for Piers grabbing and forcing Sheba out of the room. After a short lunch break, the quartet went to Menardi's house, in hopes of finding a clue to Karst's whereabouts. After checking the upstairs, attic and the entry level of the fairly large house. Because the team could not find Karst, the team felt stuck. In the entry way of the house, the group all sat down. However, before anyone could say a word, the bench Mia was sitting on broke, resulting in Mia hitting her head on the bookshelf behind her. _

"_Mia, are you ok?" Ivan asked quickly, hoping that the healer hadn't hurt herself._

"_I'm fine… let me just heal myself real quick… and there!" Mia said triumphantly._

"_Are you sure that your ok?" quizzed Sheba still slightly worried. _

"_Yes yes yes I'm fine" answered Mia modestly, she rarely ever admitted to being wounded._

"_That book didn't move" Piers quietly said, he was keen, although greatly worried about Mia, he had noticed that a book on the shelf did not move; which was odd, because a few of the books had actually fallen off._

"_What do you mean?" Sheba inquired, curious as to why Piers, who was always worried Mia, hadn't even asked if she was okay. Instead of answering her, Piers walked up to the bookshelf and pulled the book that hadn't move. This caused a chain reaction that eventually moved the entire bookshelf away and revealed a staircase. After exchanging a few glances, Piers helped Mia up, then the group quickly entered the small staircase. When they got to the bottom what they saw amazed them._

_ The place they had entered was like a mansion that was underground! The main hall went around thirty feet ahead of them. It branched off into four rooms; there were also many pillars that held the underground mansion up. They also saw what looked like a fully-functioning kitchen off to their left; to the right was a huge dinner table that contained twelve seats, each of which had unique markings. The table had candles and a table cloth around it. It also had some greenery on the table as decoration and had plates, cups and utensils. The walls around the mansion had many torches to light the entire compound. The strangest thing about the place was that it didn't look dusty or very un-used._

_The group gazed but eventually continued down the hall to the four rooms ahead. The first two rooms were all bedrooms that also had tubs for bathing and shelves for books. The third room was a armory and forge, the armory was well-built and had many racks of armor, weapons and shields of many different variations. The forge was one of the best forges Piers had ever seen! It was ingenious, you could turn a knob and it made the forge heat up quickly, and you simply turned the knob back to its original spot and the forge would instantly cool down, after a moment Piers realized it was only because of psyenergy. After much shoving, the girls forced the boys into the next room, a decision that almost proved fatal. The final room was a training ground, big enough not to be cramped, but small enough for just two fighters. There were many different dummies that could be used for practice but that wasn't what the group focused on._

_The group had its attention focused on a slim figure with a deadly scythe: Karst. Before anyone said anything, Karst had swung her scythe past Sheba and straight at the Mia. Karst's strategy was to take out the healer so that she could slowly whittle down the group. Her next target was Piers, the strongest of the group. No one was prepared to stop an attack, no one but Piers. As quick as he could, Piers drew his sword and blocked Karst's strike. But, Karst didn't let up, and used Mars psyenergy to strike Mia. This, Piers couldn't stop. However because Mia was a Mercury Adept she wasn't hurt by the attack as much as it could have hurt someone else. As quick as lightning, Karst gracefully switched back to a scythe attack, swinging at Sheba. Sheba jumped to dodge as quick as she could, which wasn't quick enough, and the scythe struck her shoulder. Sheba screamed in pain and went down, Karst smiled as she blocked the captain's strike, knowing she had only three opponents left. Karst's scythe had drained the young Jupiter Adept of energy and the girl had fainted._

_However, Karst realized that the Ivan and the Mercury Adepts could still defeat her, so Karst transferred to defense. While blocking blows, Karst made sure that the healer wasn't able to get very close to Sheba because that would ruin Karst's entire strategy. While blocking, Karst saw a opening in Piers' defense and struck at his hand, forcing him to fight with his off hand. It helped immensely, because now, she had a very real chance of winning. As Karst contemplated the various ways she could defeat the weakened Lemurien and the remaining Adepts, a massive electrical strike of psyenergy struck Karst, and nearly made her black out. Karst, now angry, launched a massive Mars Psyenergy attack at the boy, it hit him dead on, completely knocking him out, leaving only the Mercury Adepts. Piers pressed his advantage while Karst was slightly distracted by slashing her below the neck, causing her to bleed greatly. Karst, growing angrier, used her scythe to strike his other hand, forcing Piers to completely drop _Excalibur, _his sword. Karst turned to annihilate Mia, but miraculously, Piers stood and stabbed his blade into Karst shoulder. Then he used his Mercury psyenergy to freeze Karst, then, with the flat of the blade, he smashed his sword against her skull, completely knocking her out; with that, everything went black for Karst._

_ "Piers, she's awake," was the first thing Karst heard. Mia had said it. Karst tried to get up but she was tied down with her psyenergy sealed. Karst was in her undergarments, she wasn't embarrassed though, she only blushed in the presence of Felix, and he wasn't here right now. "I don't believe we ever formally met, I'm Mia" Karst knew the girls name was Mia, but Karst preferred not to know the names of those she knew she would have to kill. Mia poured out a cup of hot tea and sweetly poured it into Karst mouth. "You're probably confused, so I'll try to explain, you had some burns after Ivan's attack so I took you upstairs to heal you. Your burns were more serious than I had thought, so I stripped you down to your undergarments in order to heal you. While you were recovering we sealed your psyenergy and bound you with ropes, just in case you are hostile. Any questions?" Mia asked. _

She's polite at least_ thought Karst. _

_ "Well I'm going to untie you so that you can change into your clothes" Mia said, Karst was surprised and slightly disappointed. Apparently Mia and her friends didn't think Karst was a threat anymore. After being untied, Karst slowly got up and put on her clothes. After she was fully clothed, Mia led Karst into the room that housed the other Adepts. They were in Menardi's house, Karst noticed with a small amount of surprise, apparently they didn't take her to the Sanctum._

"_We just have a few questions for you, then we will let you go… okay" Piers told her with a very calm and soothing voice. "First, do you know how you lived?" queried the captain_

"_I want to question you for every question that you ask me" Karst said plainly., hoping to get something out of it._

"_Very well, now first how did you live and your partner didn't?" asked Piers. _

"_He died before the lighthouse was lit so he didn't get revived. Now how did you find me" Karst asked._

"_Mia hit her head on the bookshelf and one book didn't move so I walked over to the book that didn't move and pulled it out, it caused the wall to open, now second. My turn, how long have you been training here?" Piers put his head onto his hands after he sat down._

"_I have been hiding here since I gathered the strength to bring myself here, apparently my people hate me. Why did you look for me?" Karst was sincerely curious to know the answer to this question. _

"_To know if you still have plans for vengeance…, and because Felix asked us to; now do you have plans for vengeance?" _

_Under normal circumstances, Karst would have been ecstatic to know that Felix still thought of her. "Life is too short for vengeance," Karst replied._

"_Indeed it is" Piers replied._

"_Well, I suppose we can let you go then" Piers said, and so without another word the group of Adepts left Prox and returned to Vale._

_**(END OF FLASHBACK)**_

_Finally I'm here, I wonder where Karst is. Maybe she's at Menardi's house,_ thought Felix as he walked through the Prox. As Felix walked down to Menardi's house he saw that the sun was just rising, showing a awesome dawn. Prox had changed since Felix had last seen it, which was two years ago. Since more snow had melted the people of Prox had begun to journey out into some of the area between the Mars Lighthouse and Prox. They had the intention of making the village large enough that the Mars Lighthouse was in Prox, and had actually been largely successful. The village, or rather, city had many new features like a new school for training Adepts, a large pool house that contained a hot spring so that the water wasn't too cold, and many more houses. Felix wandered how they had accomplished so much in so little time. _Wait a second, their Proxians, of course they've built this much, their stubborn as Sol _thought Felix just before he reached Menardi's house. However, before he could go inside, Puelle stopped Felix and gave him a huge bear hug.

"Felix how did you get here I didn't see any boats come in? Oh well that doesn't matter, did you bring anyone with you?"Puelle asked hopefully, he had his eye on Sheba, which greatly disgusted Felix… and everyone else.

"Um no I came alone Puelle, do you know where Karst is?" Felix asked as he studied the old Proxian's face.

"Yes, Karst's in the town jail which, by the way, is a new addition to the town. This way" Puelle began walking past Menardi's house, into the new area of the town.

_Puelle's being helpful that's really strange, _thought _Felix. _Puelle eventually led Felix into the newly created jail. It was in an underground cave that was filled with icicles. Karst was sitting in a cell. "Puelle free her please" Felix said, it was a command, not a request. When Karst heard Felix speak, she looked up and grinned mischievously.

"But she tried to kill you why would you wa-"

"Just free her" Felix said. "NOW" He added when Puelle made no movement to free her.

"Very well" Puelle said with content. _He's angry _thought Felix. Slowly, Puelle took the keys from a nearby guard and walked to the cell, carefully unlocking the locks, one by one. After a few minutes, the last lock was open, and Karst stepped out. Felix walked over to a secured room labeled _IMPOUNDED ITEMS_. The room only had a few items; it had Karst's old armor, and her deadly scythe. Quickly the earth Adept took Karst's scythe and armor, and gave them to her, without even looking of Puelle. Quickly, Karst slipped on her armor over the prison clothes. Then, the duo walked out of the jail together. The two Adepts didn't talk on the way to Menardi's house, opting instead for silence. As soon as the door to Menardi's house was shut, Karst began yelling. "Why did you do that? If I wanted out of there I could have gotten out without your help." Felix chuckled; apparently she didn't want to cause a scene in the middle of Prox.

Instead of answering her question, Felix gave a different reply than what Karst was expecting. "Remember back when I first came here?" He asked, looking around the house.

"What does that have to do wi-"

"Do you remember?" Felix interrupted, silencing Karst.

"Yes, I remember."

"What happened?" He asked, not because he didn't know, but because he wanted to remind her.

"You were crying, and I asked you why." Karst replied. When Felix didn't say anything, she continued. "You said you didn't have any friends, so I told you that I… I would" Karst couldn't finish, the memory gripped her.

"You said, I'll be your friend forever" Felix finished for her.

"Yes well, I hardly see why this matters." Karst said, interrupting the mood.

"After that night, we started training together, you remember don't you?" Karst didn't answer him, but Felix knew she remembered. "We both grew stronger together, we also grew closer, then, one night under a meteor shower, we kissed." Karst made no movement suggesting she was even paying attention, but Felix knew she was. "We continued to date in secret, sneaking midnight kisses, or fleeing away on free days…" Felix stopped, caught up in the memories.

"Yes, I enjoyed it, until Menardi caught us, she beat me for a day straight, and we didn't see each other for months, I got a new training partner, and Saturos started to personally train you, there were no more midnight kisses, no more sneaking away, no contact at all, for two years." Karst replied, pointing out the… less desirable portions of their relationship.

"Karst, you were the reason I kept going, the reason I never gave up during Prox. I willed myself not to freeze to death so that one day, I might possible have a chance of seeing you again. Karst, this is that chance, this is our time." Felix took Karst by the shoulders, and looked into her eyes, gazing into her soul. Karst gazed back, striking with equal strength, into his soul. There was no reply, instead, she took him by the shirt and kissed him ferociously. Felix knew he had made the correct choice in returning to Prox.

XXX

Felix was living the life. He had a beautiful girlfriend, a pleasant home, and a city that loved him. The duo lived in Menardi's home, in separate bedrooms thought; it was Angara philosophy to wait until marriage before sharing a bedroom. The food was good, Felix had learned from Saturos how to make a pleasant meal out of snow and dust, so with more ingredients than those, Felix figured out how to make good meals, rather than pleasant ones. Prox had hailed Felix as a hero, (technically he was) as he had saved the town by lighting the Mars Lighthouse. Felix and Karst had plenty of money too, they hunted nearly every day. The lands around Prox had plenty of monsters with lots of gold. So, Felix was happy to realize that Piers would be coming tomorrow.

Because Piers was coming, Felix went to Karst's room to get her to go on a final adventure. Sweetly, (and to get her in a good mood) Felix brought her a breakfast fit for a queen. Pancakes, biscuits, eggs, bacon and almost anything else one could imagine. He put it all on a tray, and walked into Karst's room. He sat on her bed, and gently shook Karst in order to wake her. She opened her eyes and smelt the wondrous aroma. Quickly she sat up, and took a plate. She gave Felix a look that said 'thank you,' although she didn't actually say anything. Karst never thanked anyone for anything, it was just who she was.

"Hey Karst, I was wondering" Felix paused, watching his love take a bite of her food. "If we could go to Mars Lighthouse, one last time." She knew Piers was coming, he had told her a week ago.

Karst shrugged; apparently she didn't care at the moment. "Fine." She said simply. Felix was so happy, that he kissed her. Together, they searched each other's mouths with their tongues, only letting go out of need for air. After twenty minutes, Karst and Felix finished their meal and began to ready themselves.

Karst slid out of bed, walked over to her dresser. Quickly, she slipped off her nightgown, and opened up her drawers, putting on her undergarments, she looked through her drawers for what she wanted to wear for today. Karst selected long black pants, and a silver tight fitting undershirt that showed her belly. Karst also took out black gloves, and black hiking boots. Lastly, she put her long hair into a pony tail. Karst walked downstairs into the entry way to where Felix was waiting. Together the two Adepts in love left the house to walk to Mars Lighthouse.

The walk didn't take long, probably only half an hour. Surprisingly enough, and to Karst's annoyance, the two Adepts encountered no monsters, which was strange since the outer lands were usually crowded with different types of monsters.

After the walk, the duo entered the Mars Lighthouse; they searched through the various rooms, this time just for fun, and fought only a few, weak monsters. Most of the rooms were empty, and the Adepts progressed quickly, since most of the traps and puzzles had already been solved. After a few hours, the two Adepts stopped for a quick lunch break, consisting of bread cheese and some monster meat that Karst cooked/burned. After the break, the duo went through the final few rooms, and then went to the top of the Lighthouse, the Summit.

When they reached the summit, they stopped, held hands and kissed passionately.

"I love you Karst. I hope you know that." Felix said as he stared into her eyes.

"I know it Felix, and… I…" she faltered, looking away, but only briefly. "I love you too." Felix gave one of the largest smiles he had ever given.

They kissed again, longer this time. They probably would have continued for several hours. "It was wrong of you to come here." said a booming creepy voice.

"Who is there" Karst said as she quickly raised her scythe, and went back to back with Felix, who unsheathed the Sol Blade.

"Why didn't you save me?" the voice asked, as if sorrowful.

"We don't know you." Answered Felix with determination.

"Aw but you do!" Suddenly a humanoid figure, shrouded in darkness appeared, then suddenly it stepped out of the darkness, revealing itself. It was tall, and had armor but there were multiple holes in it. Felix realized with horror that the holes were still bleeding and some had bones sticking out. The… thing had skin that was decaying, and in some places, there wasn't any skin at all, only darkened muscle and tissue; it was disgusting, it made Felix want to vomit.

"Agatio." Karst whispered; and indeed it was him, the massive, brutal Proxian who had tried to avenge Saturos and Menardi.

"Yes, it is I." Agatio replied, with his new creepy voice.

"But how?" Asked Felix, who didn't particularly understand.

Agatio didn't answer, instead, he unleashed a massive blast of flame, using his Mars Psyenergy, the attack wouldn't usually be to strong, but the Mars Lighthouse strengthened the attack and somehow the revived Agatio had gained more power than when he was living. Moving quickly, Felix dodged the psyenergy by jumping high above it, and attacked using _Megiddo_. Felix's attack directly hit Agatio, sending him flying near the edge of the lighthouse. Felix suspected that the fight was over, Megiddo was extremely powerful, and Felix had only grown stronger since his last battle with Agatio. Unfortunately, the fight wasn't over, Agatio used his attack, _Rising Dragon_ to send Felix high into the air. Then the dragon carrying Felix exploded, and Felix fell through the air and onto the summit. The attack hurt Felix greatly, but the Venus Adept was strong, so he still stood.

Now it was Karst's turn for the offensive. Felix suspected she was happy for a fight, as she rushed at Agatio, swinging her scythe so fast, that Felix couldn't even tell where it was. The scythe tore through Agatio's decaying left arm, sending it careening of the lighthouse and into the frozen wastes. Agatio should have been in pain, but he acted as if nothing happened. The decaying Adept took Karst's scythe with his remaining hand and shoved it back at Karst. She was hit in the neck, causing her to lose her grip and fall back, luckily, Felix was ready to fight again. He rushed at Agatio, and used his Djinn, Echo, to double his attack power, Agatio tried to dodge, but Felix adjusted himself so that his attack still hit. Agatio was cut in half, just above the waistline. He gave a slightly confused look, and then slumped forward. Felix breathed in and out; he hadn't had a serious fight since the Doom Dragon incident awhile ago. The fight should have been over, but suddenly, tendrils emerged from Agatio's two halves. The tendrils came together, and pulled Agatio back together, forming a whole body. A few tendrils came out of Agatio's sliced off arm, the tendrils came together there and formed Agatio a new arm. Although the arm was new, it still looked decayed and dying. "How" Felix asked himself, astonished. Agatio ignored the comment, instead he ran forward and punched at the shocked Felix, hitting the Venus Adept head on. The blow sent Felix into the well of the Mars Lighthouse, luckily enough, Felix managed to grasp the edge, literally holding on for dear life. Meanwhile, Karst pressed an attack, extremely angry from what seemed to be 'Felix's death'. The female Proxian hit her former partner directly in the chest with her scythe, draining him of psyenergy. Agatio simply turned and fired a blast of Mars Psyenergy into Karst, sending her flying to the edge of the light house. Karst stared up at the male Proxian, he still had the scythe in him, he acted like he hadn't even noticed it.

Meanwhile, Felix couldn't see anything, so naturally, he assumed that Karst was in trouble. Quickly he called upon his Djinn, sending three into recovery so that he could boost his strength, allowing Felix to jump out of the lighthouse and to Agatio in one leap. Then, he plunged the Sol Blade into the place where Agatio's heart would be, hurting the weakened Proxian. Karst, seeing the Sol Blade through Agatio, yanked on her scythe, using it as a lift back onto the lighthouse, then she yanked it out, sending Agatio to the floor in front of the well of the lighthouse. Felix held the Sol Blade at Agatio's throat, ready to stab if necessary.

"How did you survive?" Felix asked warily, ready for any sudden movement.

"Someone… brought me… back with… through darkness" Agatio said very slowly.

"Who and why?" Karst quickly asked, realizing that Agatio was close to death.

"I… know not who… but… it was… to make… you to stronger" Agatio said slowly and quietly

"How are you to make us stronger" Felix asked as they both leaned in to hear Agatio, who had gotten much quieter.

"like this" Agatio whispered as he grabbed both Adepts by their necks, instantly, his arms glowed, the glow went through Agatio's arms, and into Felix and Karst. Reflexively, Felix beheaded Agatio, assuming that the male Proxian intended to kill. Somehow, as if supported by something else, Agatio's arms didn't fall lifeless, they gripped stronger until the glow stopped, at which point Agatio's arms fell, and his body disintegrated. Karst screamed in pain as darkness invaded, then she blacked out. Felix held out briefly, but ultimately, he to fell victim to the darkness.

The next morning, Piers awoke, he was tired and wanted to sleep more, but he didn't give in. He had a mission, and had to do it. Piers got out of his bed and clothed himself, then he walked to the large psyenergy stone in the middle of New Vale. Piers summoned up a large amount of psyenergy, then he teleported to Prox. There, he landed exactly in front of Menardi's home. Piers searched the place but saw nothing living; he did however see signs of people living there. Piers next guess was the Mars Lighthouse, it took Piers a few hours to search the entire place, but he did. Ultimately, the Lemurien arrived at the summit. It had the tell tale signs of battle, scorch marks, blood, bodies. Piers had a double take at the bodies.

It was Karst and Felix, both had scorch marks around their body. Between them was a pile of something ash-like. While picking up Karst and Felix, Piers accidentally kicked it, the ashes spread out into the wind, gone forever. Piers shrugged, it was probably just a burnt up monster, not anything like a person. Finally, Piers teleported back to New Vale and took the duo to Mia, who was staying in the nearby Inn. Quickly, she worked at reviving them, after several hours of working, Mia told Piers that the two just needed rest now. Nodding, Piers took Felix and Karst to Jenna's house, leaving them in her care. Piers was skillful enough to avoid all of Jenna's questions, telling her to ask Felix when he woke up. It was obvious she was annoyed, but she didn't pry. Piers sighed as he walked back to his ship, he wondered if this was the beginning of some new adventure.

After a couple of weeks, Felix and Karst were back in shape; they began training again, and were steadily growing stronger. After a month or two, it was time for Colosso to begin.


	4. Colosso: Friends and Rivals

**Chapter 4, **_**Colosso**_**: Friends and Rivals**

After Felix's journey to court Karst, the Warriors of Vale convened together in Isaac's house to discuss Karst. The Warriors met in Isaac's room, which was just big enough for everyone to fit. Isaac, Jenna and Ivan sat on Isaac's bed, Garet and Mia sat next to each other on a small couch, and Felix, Piers and Sheba sat together on the floor. Despite the fact that Karst appeared to want forgiveness, the warriors didn't trust her.

"So, we have convened today to discuss Karst." Kraden began, and then allowed for the others to speak.

"I don't trust her one bit! We should send her back to Prox where she deserves to rot!" Jenna announced quickly, as was her custom.

"Her people put her behind bars when she didn't deserve it Jenna. How can you possible say we should send her back there to 'rot'?" Felix asked, using air quotes at the word 'rot'.

"FELIX, she tried to KILL us!" Jenna screamed at her brother.

"And why do you think that was?" Felix asked, crossing his arms.

"Because she is a demon who hates us!" Jenna screamed, desperate to make her brother understand her thoughts.

Felix rolled his eyes. "So if New Vale were about to be destroyed for forever, you wouldn't go and save it by whatever means necessary?" He questioned.

"Of course I would, but what does that have.. to do…" Jenna stopped momentarily confused. "Grr, Felix that is a completely different scenario than what was happening with Prox." Jenna said, confident that she was correct.

However, before the fight could escalate further, Piers spoke up. "Jenna, Felix, please calm down." After a moment, the siblings did indeed calm down, allowing Piers to continue. "In my experience, continuing to hate someone, despite justice being survived, hurts you." Piers stopped for emphasis and glared at Jenna. "If you continue to hate Karst, it won't help matters, you must put your anger away Jenna and allow yourself to forgive Karst." Jenna gulped, she knew Piers was correct, but she didn't want to admit it; so she stayed silent. Due to Piers' speech, no one else felt the need to argue against Karst, so the Warriors decided to forgive Karst of her transgressions, and allow her to join the Warriors of Vale on the journey to Colosso.

Colosso was built in Tolbi, the largest city in all of Weyard and contained much drama. Although the capital had lost some of its pride and strength when its' leader, Babi, had died; Tolbi was on its way to becoming magical again. After two years of searching, Tolbi had finally found a new king. A kind man named Jerome. Apparently, Babi had 'taken an interest' in a young maid from the palace. According to the rumors Isaac heard, the maid had fled to Suhalla in fear that she would be executed. Personally Isaac didn't think Babi would go so far as to kill the maid; Isaac did think that Babi would definitely cover up the incident. Jerome himself had only been king for a few months, formerly he was a rancher who trusted everyone; A terrible person to have as king.

As Isaac strolled into Tolbi for the third time, he still felt himself amazed at the awesomeness of it all. Tolbi had erected large walls to keep it safe from attack. It had also built a large castle for Iodem and Jerome. The people of Tolbi also built a new coliseum for Colosso with a large barren field in front of it. The arena itself was made in a large oval. It was able to hold a huge amount of stands, allowing for all of Tolbi and more to come watch. The arena ground was made of dirt and sand to suck up spilled blood. Despite being new, it looked quite used, a fact that startled Isaac.

The main entrance had three hallways. The first hallway went west and went upstairs to the stands. The second hallway went east, and lead to the best seats. The last hallway went north, leading into the underground preparation rooms for combatants. Just before that north hallway was a table with a large sign that read: _REGISTER HERE_. Quickly the warriors made their way to the table and the competitors signed in. Karst, Garet, Isaac, Piers, Felix, Jenna and Ivan all decided to participate. Sheba and Mia opted to watch instead.

After a few hours of waiting, Jerome, Tolbi's new king, walked out onto the arena and shouted out to the audience. "The rules are as follows. There will be four races held; the top four runners for each race will proceed to the finals. Every contestant will be given a number between 1 and 400. 1-100 will have the first race. 101-200 will have the second race. 201-300 will have the third race and 301-400 will have the fourth race. When the horn sounds, the first race will be held, thank you and good luck contestants." After his announcement, Jerome walked with Iodem back to the Royal Observation Room and sat down.

Moments after the king announced the rules, the competing Warriors of Vale took their numbers from the specially marked table. Felix was number 12, Piers was 43, Garet was 57. Isaac was 400, Jenna was 304, Ivan was 398 and Karst was 112. Just as Ivan took his number from the table, a large gong sounded, meaning that the first race would soon begin. Quickly, Felix, Piers, and Garet went to the racetrack. The race was simple, one lap around the entire coliseum. Moments later, Jerome's voice filled the arena again as he shouted "BEGIN."

All the runners took off when the shout sounded through Colosso. Piers took an early lead by sprinting while Garet was stuck in a pile of runners, oddly though, Felix stayed in the back jogging. As they began to turn, Piers slowed down so that he could conserve energy. Felix stayed at the back jogging. Meanwhile, Garet started charging ahead, hoping to break free of the other runners. After the turn, things stayed the same, no one truly moving ahead or behind. As they neared the finish, Garet was able to finally push his way through his opponents and into the lead. However, a few of the smaller runners jumped onto Garet and held onto him. Thinking quickly, Garet unleashed some Mars psyenergy in order to heat his body up, forcing the small runners to let go of Garet. As they headed for the last bit of the race, Piers and Garet were neck and neck. They grinned at each other, eager to see who was faster. Surprisingly though, Felix sprinted extremely quickly, running faster than ever before. Felix crossed between Piers and Garet, winning first place in the first race. Garet slowed in shock at Felix's speed, resulting in Piers acquiring second place and Garet receiving third. The fourth man to finish looked to be around the same age as Isaac. The man had brown hair, a black jacket with red lines on the sleeves and black pants. His shirt was black with red symbols on it and the combatant's shoes were black with red lines. The guy also had a red scarf that was like Isaac's.

"These four men will be moving on to the final!" exclaimed Jerome, Tolbi's king.

Quickly, Iodem came out of the Royal Observation Room and asked for the winners names. "FELIX, PIERS, GARET, MATTHEW" Iodem held up each person's hand as he said their names. "Please follow me this way men." At a fast pace, Iodem led the winners to the winner's observation room upstairs. It was highly furnished, sparing little in terms of extravagance. Felix hurried to a nearby seat to watch the next race.

After a few minutes, the gong sounded again and the racers went to their places in order to run. With a second _bong_, the race began. A few minutes later, the race ended and the winners were named by Iodem. "KARST, SEAN, OURANOS AND uh, um MASK!" screamed Iodem after a slight moment of confusion. When the next group of winners entered the winner's observation room, they began to converse. Mask went straight to the corner of the room and stood silently, not talking to anyone or anything. Garet looked at Mask, and for the briefest of seconds, Mask looked like he was the very embodiment of darkness, as if it was flowing out of him. Then, Garet blinked and it was gone; Mask looked human again.

Meanwhile, Karst walked to Felix, sat in his lap and gave him a long kiss. Quickly, that changed into an all out make-out session, which sent all other contestants away from the couple. Sean and Ouranos walked to Piers and began a conversation with him about sailing.

Finally, Garet walked over to Matthew and began a conversation. "Hey, I'm Garet. I'm from New Vale. What's your name?" Garet asked, having never seen Matthew before.

"I'm Matthew. I'm from Altin." Matthew said, there was a small awkward silence because Altin had been flooded. So Matthew decided to explain more. "I was gone training when it was flooded otherwise I would have tried to save the town." Garet gave a look of understanding and nodded. To Garet, Matthew appeared to be kind and looked to like a strong fighter.

"Cool. Me and my friends actually ended up stopping the flood monsters, so it all worked out." Garet said with a pat on Matthew's back.

Matthew fell to his knees upon hearing Garet's words. "You were the one who saved my town thank you so, so much, if there is anything I can do for you, please just tell me and I'll do my best to do it." promised Matthew

"Well there is one thing," Garet scratched his head and looked down.

"What is it?" asked Matthew eagerly, hoping to help to the best of his ability.

"Do your best in the fights" Garet answered with a chuckle. At that, both warriors laughed, and began talking about more mundane things. During their conversation, the horn for the third race went off and the race ended.

Quickly, Iodem announced the winner's names. "GAVIN, OLIVANDER, NEVAMPA, CALSEN!" screamed Iodem. The winners walked up to the winner's observation room. Gavin, Olivander and Nevampa went and started talking to each other about weapons and armor. Calsen went and sat down on a bench near the entrance. Gavin, Olivander and Nevampa were Colosso regulars, meaning that they participated (and sometimes won) yearly. In actuality, Nevampa had fought Isaac during last year's Colosso and was hoping for a rematch with the young Warrior of Vale. Gavin and Olivander had lost even earlier during the previous Colosso. The other finalist, Calsen, was a completely different story than the three regulars. Calsen was a young woman with vibrant green hair. She was very beautiful and wore a blue blouse with a white trim and had a white skirt. She also had white gauntlets and a white rose in her hair. As the gong for the fourth race rang out, Jenna, Isaac and Ivan walked down to the starting line.

When the race started Ivan jumped on the back of the fastest racer he saw. Jenna and Isaac sprinted and held hands in a romantically. The race continued this way until the finish line. Steps away from the finish line, Ivan jumped of the back of the fast racer, pushing the racer back and Ivan forward into first place and victory. Jenna and Isaac finished second and third respectively. The fourth winner was a man named Ray. After Iodem announced the winner's names, Isaac and Jenna walked to the observation room. As Isaac stepped into the room, he saw a girl with green hair sitting on a bench alone. _It couldn't be…_ Isaac thought, but he still called out to her. "Calsen?" Isaac asked hesitantly.

The girl turned around, revealing her lovely face. "Yes?" she mumbled with surprise, then she realized who she was talking to and exclaimed "ISAAC" then she clobbered him in a bear hug. "How are you I haven't seen you in what nine years?" Calsen asked as she pulled him tightly. Jenna was watching the exchange and began to feel uneasy.

Isaac let go of Calsen as he set her down. "Yeah nine years sounds right. I've been doing good, what about you? He asked.

"I've been great, life's been good to me." Calsen said with a giggle and smile. Meanwhile, Jenna jabbed her boyfriend in his ribs.

"OH! Calsen, this is my girlfriend, Jenna." He said quickly, hoping he wouldn't be punished more for momentarily forgetting Jenna.

"Nice to meet you," Jenna said as she shook Calsen's hand. "How do you two know each other?" she asked.

"Well every year for about a month, my family would go to Vault, mainly because my parents were good friends with Calsen's parents." Isaac started.

"Until nine years ago. My family moved because my father was very sick. We had to move to my uncle's" Calsen explained. "We haven't seen each other since then"

"Okay, well it was nice to meet you Calsen, I'll leave you two to catch up" Jenna said quickly. Then she walked off, more than slightly put off with Isaac.

Now that the preliminary races were finished, King Jerome went to the winner's observation room to congratulate them and lead them into the castle; which was intricately designed to connect to the coliseum. After a short walk, Jenna and the other finalists were inside looking around at the castle. It had numerous paintings, along with specially designed furniture. Every piece of furniture had symbols on them that represented various things; such as the Wise One or the Elements. It also had several red carpets and stone tile on the ground. All in all, it was quite impressive.

When the contestants finally reached their rooms they began unpacking and were told that dinner would be served soon. Jenna walked into her room and was shocked to find that it was HUGE; quite bigger than her room and Felix's room combine! It had an extremely fancy bed and a closet fit for an emperor. It also had several pieces of furniture, such as a dresser, a desk, a nightstand, and a fully furnished bathroom complete with a bathtub too. The bed itself had a covering over it, just to make it look fancier.

Quite curious, Jenna quickly ran into Isaac's room to see if it was the same. When she opened the door she saw that it was exactly the same as hers, down to the tiniest detail. The only thing different was the fact that Isaac was in the room shirtless. "Ever heard of knocking?" He asked as he reached for his trademark blue tunic. Jenna giggled at her boyfriends comment and walked over to him and put a hand on his chest. "Well I didn't get the memo," Looking up at his face, she said "and besides, knocking is out of style." Mere inches apart, Isaac rushed the distance and planted a firm kiss on her lips. However, before they could continue their escapades, there was a knock at the door. Begrudged, Isaac answered it.

"Dinner is served" a butler told him

"Thank you we'll be there shortly." Isaac said, still slightly disappointed. Quickly, he put on a shirt, and motioned for Jenna to follow him to the dining room. Just before they were out the door, Jenna grabbed her boyfriend and hugged him.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

Together, the duo walked to the dining room. After a small walk they arrived and sat down at the only two open seats next to each other. To Jenna's left was Matthew and to Isaac's right was Calsen. "Hello my name is Matthew; may I have the pleasure of knowing yours?" Matthew asked Jenna.

Jenna gave him a smile because of his kindness, "Yes, my name is Jenna. Where do you come from?"

"I come from Altin, have you heard of it?"

"Yes my boyfriend Isaac went there."

"Boyfriend, would he by chance be the person seated next to you?" Jenna openly laughed at that

"Yes he is, what about you, do you have a loved one?"

"No, I used to but she died when my town was flooded."

"I'm so sorry"

"I'm sorry too". Just then the food arrived. The waiters carried in several large platters filled with elegant dishes such as steak and baked potatoes. They were all huge proportions of food. For drink, the waiters brought out ancient wines and spirits, although they also had herbal tea for the underage finalists. Throughout the hardy meal, Matthew flirted with Jenna, who flirted back in an effort to make Isaac jealous. Unfortunately, Isaac was to engrossed with his own flirting with Calsen, that he didn't notice Jenna's.

By the time dinner was finished, Jenna's patience was gone, although she did have the self-control to wait until after most everyone had left before she started to rampage. Before Calsen walked too far Jenna grabbed her. "Look I don't know you but stay away from my boyfriend! Then maybe we could possibly be friends!" Jenna exclaimed with her trademark fury.

"He was MY friend first! And I was his first kiss too!" Calsen exclaimed. She was just as angry about Jenna, as Jenna was about Calsen. Instead of retorting, Jenna simply walked away, hoping to Sol that she would get to fight Calsen tomorrow. Jenna walked straight to her room, but still extremely angry. Deciding to try to sleep her anger off, Jenna stripped herself down to her undergarments. About an hour later, she hadn't fallen asleep, only thinking off Calsen and Isaac. _How could he say that? HOW? He is MY boyfriend not hers, MINE. I HATE HER! I just want to punch her face, repeatedly. What if, what if he loves her and doesn't love me. That can't be it. It can't. _Jenna thought to herself. Eventually Jenna became so angry that she knew that sleep would be impossible. With here trademark fury, the Mars Adept stormed across the hall into Isaac's room. Jenna walked over to Isaac (who was sleeping) and shook him.

"Isaac wake up, WAKE UP" Jenna shouted.

"What but I… Jenna what are you doing here? What are you wearing?" Jenna looked down and blushed slightly, she was still in her undergarments.

"That isn't important now, what is important is what I need to know!"

"Um, okay, what do you need to know?"

"Do you love Calsen?"

"What? Why do you care?" Isaac asked, clearly confused.

"Just answer the question Isaac." Jenna practically yelled.

"I only love Calsen as a friend." He answered politely.

"Do you love me?" Jenna nervously asked.

"I love you more than anything in the world Jenna." Isaac said honestly. Slowly Jenna decided what to do next. She put a hand on his muscular chest, and stepped close.

"Isaac can I sleep in here"

"Yes" Isaac said instantly.

Quickly, Jenna crawled next to him, and slowly she fell asleep knowing that _her_ Isaac loved her.

The next morning King Jerome announced the fight pairings. Felix was to fight Piers. Jenna had to face the normal warrior Ray. Isaac would fight the Colosso regular Olivander. Karst would face another of the Colosso regulars, a man named Gavin. The mysterious warrior named Mask would fight the final Colosso regular: Nevampa. The adorable Calsen would fight Sean, while Garet would fight the large Ouranos. Finally, the powerful Matthew would fight Ivan. As people began to file into the coliseum, the contestants were tasked to go obtain the weapons and armor they needed. As most everyone arrived, King Jerome stood up from his throne and began to announce the rules.

"The following fights have three rules.

Number 1: If you lose consciousness you lose the match.

Number 2: If you go out of bounds you lose the match.

Number 3: no killing.

That is all, the fights will begin shortly."

After the rules were properly stated, the audience began to chant Felix and Piers' names. After a short wait, Iodem (The announcer) called out for Piers and Felix to enter the arena; so Piers and Felix quickly walked into the arena. Both Warriors of Vale were nervous and excited. After shaking hands, Piers and Felix went into their respective fighting stances. Piers held Excalibur high, while Felix held the Sol Blade before him. The Sol Blade shined like Alchemy before the crowd… which only made them more excited. As Felix looked around, he heard King Jerome shout "BEGIN!"

Felix launched at Piers with a sword strike and also summoned a wall of earth to ensure that Piers would be hit by something. Thinking quickly, Piers blocked Felix sword attack, and jumped, over the wall of earth by using water to boost himself. Felix rapidly turned around and swung at Piers, hitting the Lemurien's left hand. Piers swore quietly but still swung at Felix. Quickly the duo became locked in swordplay. Felix would swing high strikes at Piers, who would block them and then swing low at Felix's feet. Felix would then jump and swing high again, forcing the duo into repeating it all again.

To break the rhythm, Felix jabbed at Piers chest, only for Piers to dodge the attack. However, before he landed, Felix swung outward with his leg, kicking Piers in the chest. The Mercury Adept stumbled back and used psyenergy to make a layer of ice on the arena. Felix ran to press his advantage against Piers, but slipped due to the ice. With Felix on his butt, Piers swung what was to be the final blow, only to have Felix roll away. While rolling, Felix used his Venus Psyenergy to make a vine grab Piers' leg. The vine dragged Piers to the edge of the arena, but before the Lemurien could be thrown off, he cut the vine.

Surprisingly, Piers used the Teleport Lapis to teleport behind Felix and strike the Warrior of Vale on the back of the head. The blow launched Felix to the end of the arena, unconscious. As according to rule number 1, Piers won the duel and was declared the victor. Then, Piers was sent back to the observation room.

The next battle was short and sweet, Jenna arrived at the arena with her opponent, Ray. When the match began she used her strongest Mars psyenergy attack against her opponent. The unfortunate soul was unconscious for a week. Isaac had a similar battle, he used Odyssey, and it knocked out Olivander easily.

Karst's fight was similar, but slightly different. When Karst took the arena everyone began to become scared, and to be fair, the Proxian race are a scary people. Her opponent became so fearful that he quit without fighting, he was quite fearful for his life. Karst simply walked back to the observation room without saying a word.

Moments later Mask took to the field, resulting in the fear intensifying quickly. Mask walked onto the field in all black armor. His mask was made of glass, but it was pitch black. The mysterious warrior drew his sword, which strangely was without a handle guard. As soon as Iodem said begin, it was over. Mask had suddenly appeared in front of Nevampa and slashed his sword, sending Nevampa flying into the ground. Without a word, the ominous warrior left.

The next battle was between Calsen and a fast warrior named Sean. Sean sprinted at Calsen, with twin daggers in his hands, intent on knocking her out. Calsen merely erected a pillar of earth, which Sean slammed into. Calsen then made the pillar launch him into the out of bounds area. Afterwards, the pretty green haired Adept departed to the observation room.

The next fight was between Garet and Ouranos. Garet charged Ouranos, a mountain of a man, foolishly. Ouranos punched Garet, forcing him to slide back to his original starting position. Ouranos then raised his sword and slammed it into the arena, causing a tremor and Garet to fall down. Angered, the Mars Adept raised his blade to block Ouranos' mighty strike. But, instead of stopping the blow, the sword shattered into millions of tiny pieces. Everyone was shocked, so Garet used that to his advantage, summoning his most powerful Mars psyenergy, and unleashed it at Ouranos' head. The resulting strike was both: unexpected and effective. Ouranos flew high into the air, and floated down. He then took exactly ten steps before falling down unconscious. Iodem quickly pronounced Garet the winner.

The final battle of the day was between Ivan and Matthew. Ivan began the fight with light strikes at Matthew's arms, hoping to be able to disarm him. When that avenue of attack failed, Ivan began to use psyenergy. Ivan unleashed his most powerful Jupiter attack. Instead of being fried and unconscious, there was a dome of earth, making the Jupiter Adept puzzled. The dome was launched at Ivan, who although tried to dodge, failed miserably. The dome hit Ivan right in the chest and continued to launch him all the way to the out of bounds area. Matthew stood victorious, and revealed himself to be a Venus Adept. Quietly, Matthew went to the Observation room where he was given many high fives. With that, the battles were done for the day and the winners walked to their rooms; to rest and recuperate.

After dinner, (which was chicken breast) Isaac and Jenna went to Jenna's room. When they arrived they began to play cards and talk about the mundane.

"I should probably head back to my room since it's late." Isaac stated sadly, an hour later.

"Please don't go I don't like being alone in a room this big." Jenna pleaded.

"Well I suppose I can stay longer." Isaac said, causing his girlfriend to beam.

"I know Isaac! Let's have a sleep over! Please" Jenna was almost whining now.

Ultimately, Isaac caved in "I suppose that will be fun"

"YAY, you should go bring some padding for the floor, ok?"

"All right."

After Isaac came back, he discovered Jenna sitting on the bed. Sitting at the floor, the couple talked briefly about the mundane. After an hour, Jenna had fallen asleep on Isaac's shoulder. Smiling at the innocence, Isaac calmly picked her up and softly set her down on her bed. Then the modest Adept went to his makeshift bed and slept soundly.


	5. Colosso: The Finals

**Chapter 6, **_**Colosso**_**: The Finals**

The winners of the preliminary, Isaac, Piers, Jenna, Calsen, Matthew, Mask, Karst and Garet, walked to the armory the next morning. They began putting on their armor. Mask went to the armory and retrieved a sword. The sword was pitch black and lacked a hand-guard. Mask was already wearing his black armor. Mask then walked to a corner of the room and stood there. After everyone had retrieved their equipment, they walked to the viewing area to watch Iodem announce the tournament matching's. "These are the following matches: Isaac vs. Mask, Karst vs. Garet, Matthew vs. Jenna, and Calsen vs. Piers." The crowd roared with excitement! Isaac looked at Mask, wondering if he could even stop him. Mask smiled underneath his mask. Jenna wandered if Matthew was as strong as Isaac or Felix. Garet was scared out of his mind. And Piers was smiling, thinking he had the easiest fight of all. "Isaac and Mask, please come to the arena quickly." Isaac fearfully walked to the arena, and very soon Mask appeared as well. "BEGIN" the king shouted.

Mask instantly rushed Isaac with sword drawn. Instantly Mask was in front of Isaac, and jabbing him in the stomach with the sword. Isaac was dumb founded, he had no idea that Mask was this fast. Isaac went flying almost out of bounds. Then Isaac realized that Mask was using psyenergy to move faster! Isaac didn't know that that was possible. He erected a sharp pillar of earth, and threw it at Mask. Mask jumped onto the pillar and then jumped again, over Isaac's head! Mask swung his sword and it hit Isaac right in the forehead. Isaac went down quickly, but got up before Mask could finish him off. Mask threw Isaac across the arena. Isaac stabbed his sword into the arena in an effort to stop himself from leaving the arena, it worked. Isaac rushed Mask this time, catching Mask off-guard. Isaac swung at Mask's mask, but Mask dodged the blow and struck Isaac again, sending Isaac flying to the edge of the arena. Mask jumped above Isaac and did a back-flip, hitting Isaac in the back of the head, launching Isaac across the arena. Isaac didn't move for a little bit, but he started to get up, but he fell down, unconscious. However, Mask had landed outside the boundary line, resulting in Isaac winning! The servants quickly took Isaac outside of the field, while Mask simple walked to the view platform. The next fight was Garet and Karst. When Iodem said begin, Karst struck with a death strike, Garet jumped back and dodged, then he ran forward and lunged for Karst's neck. Karst dodged and swung her scythe at Garet's neck. Garet barely dodged, He then unleashed some Mars psyenergy, hoping to distract Karst, it didn't work. Karst swung her scythe and it began to glow blood red. She swung as hard as she could, hitting Garet right in the chest, making him lose all feeling. The scythe then unleashed the Mars psyenergy inside it, (That is why it glowed) which shattered Garet's spine. Garet was in no condition to fight so Iodem declared Karst the winner.

Garet was immediately taken to the medical ward in order to heal him. Mia sprinted to meet him there. When Mia arrived she saw that Garet's armor had hid most of the damage; Garet's skin was red from on the blood flowing freely from it. Mia ran and began using her healing psyenergy as much as she could. Garet's open wounds were slowly being healed up! Mia was beginning to become very weak and after she saw that Garet had a good chance of living she allowed herself to pass out from exhaustion.

The next fight scheduled was between Matthew and Jenna. When Iodem shouted to begin, Matthew went on the defensive. Jenna swung high then low and then high again, Matthew blocked all of them. "Why won't you attack me" Jenna yelled at him angrily. "I don't want to hurt such a beautiful face" Jenna blushed the color of her hair. With Jenna distracted Matthew unleashed the psyenergy, Move. The psyenergy launched Jenna out of bounds. This made Matthew win. "You tricked me" Jenna said as Matthew helped her up "Yeah but you didn't want me to go easy on you, right?" Jenna just smiled and walked away "She's so hot" Matthew said to himself as he followed her to the Viewing platform. The final fight was between Piers and Calsen. Piers unleashed a tall wave of water. This should have launched Calsen out of the arena. But instead she made a dome of earth that protected her from Piers' attack. Calsen sent the dome of earth up and then attacked Piers. Piers made a wall of ice that captured her hands. Piers then walked over to her and put her in a choke hold in till she lost consciousness. After the battle finished, Iodem announced that the semi finals would be held in two days, in order to give the contestants a break.

Late that night Mia awoke. She was next to Garet's unconscious form. Mia got up and moved him to an isolated room. She then began to use herbs to heal him, instead of her psyenergy. After she was content with this she walked to a nearby chair and fell asleep. When Garet awoke the next day he felt miserable. Everything was aching very badly and Garet was a little bit surprised that he was alive. The last thing he remembered was Karst's scythe in his own chest, after that it was simple horrible pain and then he blacked out. Garet looked round the room; he saw that there was a tub, and a shelf for herbs. He also saw that there was a sink that one could wash their hands with. Garet gazed over to his left and saw that Mia was asleep in a chair nearby. Garet tried to get up but it just made everything hurt more. It also made Garet realize that he was naked. _They most have taken off my clothes when I was unconscious, in order to heal me. I hope Mia didn't see anything._ Garet quickly got bored and decided to wake Mia. "Mia" Garet realized that he his voice was extremely quiet. "Mia" Garet said louder, still no response. "MIA" Garet said as loud as he could, which turned out to be about the sound of his normal voice. Luckily she was a light sleeper. "What… what's wrong Garet." Mia said with a yawn. "Wait Garet your awake!" Mia said excitedly "Yeah I'm awake and in extreme pain" Garet said angrily. "OH sorry." Mia said sheepishly. Mia walked over to a shelf that had herbs on it. "Is it just me or is it really hot in here?" As Mia said this she grabbed herbs with one hand and took off her coat with the other hand. Without her coat on, Mia was wearing a short dress that was about six inches above her knees and a white shawl. Mia had lots of herbs so she put them down on the table and began fixing up a painkiller for Garet. Mia almost finished when she realized that she had forgotten one ingredient. "Great it is on the top shelf." Mia stood on her toes and reached up almost to the top shelf. Garet wasn't watching her hand though. When Mia said that it was hot Garet realized that he had been using his psyenergy to make the air around the room hotter, this was on accident but Garet kept quiet when he saw Mia's new outfit. When she reached for the top shelf it raised up her dress, showing her pale white panties. Garet almost said something when he realized that she might kill him if he did say anything. When Mia still couldn't reach the top shelf she got angry and jumped. Her dress went all the way up to her belly button. Garet was very happy. Mia didn't realize what she had done so she simply went to finish the potion. With the potion made, Mia walked over to Garet and leaned down to let Garet drink it. Garet drank it and the pain largely subsided. At lunch, Mia feed Garet his food. In the afternoon Garet dozed off for a bit. When he came to he saw that Mia had changed clothes again. This time she had a white shirt and a revealing skirt. Mia had thought Garet was asleep and she was crying, Garet acted asleep and listened intently. "Why why did he have to do this to me?" Garet wondered if she was referring to himself. "I loved you for so long and then you just broke my heart." Garet was very curious if she was referring to him. "I wish things weren't like this, I wish that you loved me back…" Garet was about to say something when he heard her say a name. "Why… Alex" Garet was devastated. Garet had jumped to conclusions and figured that she was referring to him. Garet almost sobbed, but instead he made the room even hotter. Mia stopped sobbing. "Wow it's getting really hot." Garet heard her move her head and correctly guessed that she looked at him. "He's asleep, I guess it would be ok to bathe, it sure would cool me down." Garet heard her get up and walk to the side of the room with the tub. He heard her begin to take off her clothes and pour water into the tub. When he heard her get into the tub, he shuffled around, still acting asleep. Garet began thinking. _I guess I shouldn't really be mad at her; it was my own emotions that made me get mad. Wow she must be in a really messed up situation. Her best friend betraying her like that. _Garet squinted with one eye, and looked at Mia's face. _She doesn't deserve that. She doesn't deserve that at all!_ Garet began to become very angry with Alex, eventually despising him with every fiber of Garet's being. Garet heard Mia begin to get out of the tub, and desire won him over. He pretended that he was just getting up; he opened his eyes and looked over at Mia. She had her back to him. She also had one foot out of the tub and one in. Mia was leaning over with a towel in hand. She was drying off her leg, and hadn't noticed Garet. Garet continued to watch in secret as she finished drying off and was about to turn around. This time modesty won him over. "Uh Mia?" Garet said, pretending to be confused. Mia was so surprised that she fell back into the tub; she was embarrassed and angry. "CLOSE YOUR EYES" commanded Mia. Garet quickly closed his eyes as he heard Mia walking over to her clothes. "Nice tuush" Garet commented as she was walking to hear clothes. She grabbed her staff and hit him in the foot. Garet yelled in pain. "You can open your eyes now." Mia said passive aggressively. "Hey not my fault that I woke up then" Garet said in his defense. "FINE" Mia walked out of the room angrily. Garet was sad and went back to sleep. When he awoke he saw that Mia was back asleep and in her pajamas; which consisted of long white pants and a form fitting white shirt that didn't quite reach her belly button. She awoke soon after Garet did. Mia walked over to him "Do you need more painkillers?" "Yes please… and Mia I'm sorry" "I forgive you Garet" Mia gathered the ingredients and mashed them together. She then fed it to Garet. "Mia. I think I should tell you this." "Tell me what?" Mia asked. "I heard you crying about Alex" Mia was speechless, literally. "And I wanted to tell you that, even though he abandoned you, I won't. I will not EVER abandon you." Mia quietly walked over to him, and fed him the herb medicine. Then she leaned in close to his face and Garet realized she had silent tears running down her face. Mia said two simple words: "I know" and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She then left the room. Garet's hands immediately went to his cheek. "She kissed me." Garet was shocked for a moment but then he reached his hand up in the air triumphantly; and he screamed in the pain, because he had raised his hand.

The next morning it was the semi-finals of the tournament. The matches were announced by Iodem "Isaac vs. Piers and Matthew vs. Karst." Piers was extremely happy with the announcement, he finally got to duel a powerful warrior. Isaac was nervous, mainly due to the fact that Felix had lost to Piers. Matthew was also nervous due to the fact that Karst had nearly killed Garet in the previous duel. Karst was emotionless. "Isaac and Piers, please enter" and so they did. After Iodem shouted "begin" the fight began. Piers used Mercury psyenergy, trying to freeze Isaac, but Isaac simply made a huge boulder appear and shatter the ice. Isaac jumped through the hole in the ice, and jabbed at Piers, Piers was not expecting this, and it sent him to the other side of the arena. Piers ran at Isaac and slammed into him as hard as he could. Isaac was surprised and lost his balance, falling down. Piers pressed his advantage by swinging high, intending to take out Isaac. Isaac rolled out of the way and then made the earth hold onto Piers' sword. Piers was defenseless and knew he had loss, so he forfeited. Isaac went back down to the armory proud of his victory. Karst and Matthew walked up to the arena intent on beginning the battle. Karst swung her scythe at Matthew's face. Matthew was quick to parry, and then swung with his own sword. Karst blocked the attack and unleashed a, Mars psyenergy, fireball at Matthew. Matthew used Venus psyenergy to give himself a boost as he jumped above the fireball, and then tried to disarm Karst. Karst defended herself the best way she knew how, by attacking. Karst's scythe began to glow blood red, then she fired off the massive amount of psyenergy that was in the scythe. Matthew should have lost then and there. But, he made a shield of earth with his Venus psyenergy. With his new shield, Matthew blocked Karst's attack and pressed forward quite clumsily. Karst was quick to disarm and strike at him. But, suddenly Karst froze in place, and then she fell backwards on to the arena floor, unconscious. Matthew had strategically used Venus psyenergy to smash Karst's skull from behind! Matthew had won so he quickly exited the arena, proud of his victory. The audience was deafening. The final battle was coming, and everyone was looking forward to it.


	6. Colosso: Ending Battles

**Chapter 7, **_**Colosso**_**: Ending Battles**

As Matthew entered the armory, he quickly went to Isaac, wanting to talk to him. "Isaac… I just wanted to say… good luck" Matthew reached out his hand. "Thanks…" Isaac shook his hand "You too" They walked to the arena. "Are you ready?" the king boomed. After both men said yes, Iodem shouted "BEGIN". Isaac and Matthew were in a stand-off. They were slowly walking in a circle. Then Isaac lunged ahead, the attack wasn't meant to hit Matthew. The attack was only meant to start the fight. Matthew attacked quickly, Isaac instantly dodged. Isaac went high, and Matthew went low, dodging Isaac's blow while still attacking. Matthew knocked Isaac back several feet. Isaac unleashed a massive spear of earth, stabbing Matthew. Matthew went flying to the edge of the arena; mere inches from falling out of bounds. Isaac followed up on his attack, intending to send Matthew out of bounds. Matthew erected a wall of earth, blocking Isaac's attack. Matthew launched himself over the wall and hit Isaac in the back of the head. Matthew grabbed Isaac's arm and threw him several feet. Isaac was momentarily stunned so Matthew pressed his advantage. Matthew swung a blow meant to knock out Isaac, but Isaac blocked the blow by raising his sword just in time to survive. Isaac used his psyenergy Move; it sent Matthew to the other side of the room. Isaac got up and ran to continue the fight. Matthew and Isaac raised their blades above their heads, creating a parry. Isaac crouched, dodging Matthew's attack, and struck Matthew as hard as he could. Matthew went to the very edge of the arena, but did not fall off. Matthew swung his blade as strong as he could; Matthew even poured his psyenergy into it. Isaac also raised his sword to send Matthew out of bounds. When the blades meet, Isaac's sword shattered. Isaac was hit so hard, that he created a ditch with his back, crushing tons of rubble. Isaac stood up, angry now, and used his psyenergy attack, Odyssey. Matthew was devastated, he had huge cut all over his body. Matthew briefly stood up, and looked Isaac in the face, Matthew was in shock. When Matthew still didn't go down, Isaac walked over to Matthew and punched him in the face. Matthew went out cold. Isaac had won.

"Guys I'm going to go talk to Isaac, I'll be back soon." Jenna cheerfully told her friends. She waved good bye as she began walking to the armory. After the king shook Isaac's hand and congratulated him, Isaac began walking down to the armory. When he got there he was surprised to see that Calsen was sitting there. "Isaac!" Calsen ran to him "Congratulations" Calsen beamed at him and hugged him. "Thanks" Isaac said. Isaac hugged her back; he loved her, but only as a friend. Jenna was almost to the armory. "Isaac…" "What is it Calsen?" "Isaac… I… I" Calsen turned around in frustration. "Calsen you can tell me" Isaac moved closer to her. Instead of saying anything Calsen simply went on impulse. Jenna finally walked down the stairs of the armory only to see Isaac with Calsen, kissing. Isaac stepped away from Calsen and turned, hearing Jenna run. Isaac took off after her, ignoring Calsen's pleas. Jenna was crying, she ran outside very quickly, making it into the empty field in front of the coliseum, but Isaac was a faster runner and caught up to her. "Jenna stop" "NOOOOO, YOU KISSED CALSEN, I HATE YOU" Jenna screamed as she shrugged off his grip and kept running. Isaac was about to continue running after her, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Isaac turned to see Felix. "Leave now" Felix was very angry. When Isaac made a move to continue running, Felix made a wall of earth block his path. Isaac turned to run around it, but Felix made another wall. "FINE YOU WANT TO PLAY IT THAT WAY?" Isaac shouted as he created a wall and sent it at Felix. Felix jumped over it, and both Venus Adepts summoned powerful spires of earth. But before they could send it at each other, they heard a powerful booming voice. "FINALLY I HAVE FOUND YOU ISAAC" "I know that voice" Isaac said as he turned to face the powerful presence. "Alex" Isaac gritted through his teeth. "Finally I can claim the full power of the Golden Sun" Alex said to himself. "HELP" Isaac yelled as he swung his sword at Alex. Alex merely created a box of ice to block Isaac's blow. Isaac used psyenergy this time, calling forth ragnarok. Alex dodged it and struck Isaac with his fist. The rest of the Vale Adepts appeared, except for Garet, and continued fighting Alex. Alex called down ice missiles, wounding Jenna and Ivan. Isaac, Felix and Piers ran at Alex to stop him, but failed miserable. Alex simply made a wall of ice. Sheba called forth a strike of psyenergy, but it did not hurt Alex in the slightest. The group of Adepts huddled together, readying a extremely powerful attack. Together, the Adepts merged much of their psyenergy in an effort to defeat Alex. Alex merely smiled, and let the Adepts collect their energy. The Adepts transferred the power to the Sol Blade, Felix's sword. Felix raised it above his head and shouted "MEGIDDO" The attack created a massive ball of psyenergy. Felix launched it right at Alex! Alex's face had one small cut on it, and then it quickly healed. Alex prepared, and then unleashed his final psyenergy attack, this time it was a massive spears of ice. Everyone went down. "And now you see that I have won, easily-" Alex was going to keep speaking, but he saw someone slowly walking towards the fighters. It was Garet. Everyone was surprised to see Garet walking. Garet was dressed in normal clothes. It was quite obvious that he was in quite a bit of pain. Garet raised his sword. "You haven't… beaten… all of us…" Before Garet could say anything else, Alex unleashed a powerful force of dark black colored psyenergy; it launched Garet into a wall of the coliseum. "GARET NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" Mia shouted with tears forming in her eyes. Mia used a potion that would give her more psyenergy. Then Mia ran to Garet, and did her best to heal him. But he was horribly wounded, much worse than Karst's attack. Piers appeared and teleported Garet and Mia to the medical ward in the coliseum. (Piers had also taken a sip of the potion) Isaac stood slowly "Everyone, tell your Djinn to attack." The Adepts did as told, even Felix and Jenna. The Djinn attacked Alex all at once, and to stop them from dying, Isaac ran to attack Alex. Alex was focused on Isaac, so the Djinn were able to successfully hit Alex. After Isaac saw that their attack was successful he walked back a few feet and stabbed his sword into the ground. With Alex momentarily stunned by the Djinn, Isaac was preparing to unleash the Adept's trump card: Iris. Isaac Summoned Iris as quickly as he could. Iris appeared, and unleashed her attack. Alex was devastated. Alex's usually white clothes were now red from blood. His face was bleeding, even his eyes. Iris also healed the Adepts, bringing them back to full strength. Alex looked at the Adepts and then warped himself far far way in order to heal himself. With Alex gone, the Adepts ran to Garet. Because of Iris' healing, Garet had been brought back from the brink of death. But he was still horrible injured. Mia and Piers were healing him as best they could, but no one was sure if he would survive. "Isaac, what did Alex want?" questioned Ivan. "He said something finally getting the power of the Golden Sun, but I didn't know that that was what he meant." Everyone was baffled as to why Alex would attack. Eventually it was decided that, Jenna, Felix, Sheba, and Karst would return to New Vale, while Isaac, Ivan, Piers and Mia would wait until Garet could be moved to New Vale.


	7. Hurt: Hopes & Dreams

Sorry for the long wait, but this chapter is pretty long compared to my other ones. I hope to get a review but whatever it doesn't matter too much

**Chapter 8, **_**Hurt**_**: Hope & Dreams**

Garet awoke with a start, flinching and hurting himself. He hurt all over, and felt like he should be dead. Garet realized that he was in his attic on a bed and there was also a desk to the side that had many herbs and potions on it. He saw Mia to his side sitting in the chair, she was looking at him. Garet had a blanket on, but that was it. "H… how… lon… long… was... I out…" Garet weakly stumbled out. "Shhh, please be quiet, your still very weak," Mia quietly said "You were knocked out for about two months." "Wow…" Garet coughed. Mia looked extremely sad and tired. "Please don't… cry…" Mia's eyes began to turn pink, and it looked like she would cry. To prevent that, Garet asked "Why aren't I healed if it has been two months?" "Alex's attack heavily wounded your already decimated body; I think the attack had dark psyenergy. It's as if Alex poisoned you with evil psyenergy, it is stopping you from healing naturally. I don't know what to do" Mia was openly crying now, Garet's plan had horribly failed. Garet held out his hand, ignoring the pain, and grabbed Mia's hand. Mia stopped crying and looked Garet in the eyes. "Don't cry… please… don't cry" It took Mia all her power to not cry, but she stopped. "Why shouldn't I cry?" "Because… it… makes me… hurt" Garet stumbled out. At that Mia walked out of the room, not wanting to make Garet hurt, but not being able to hold back the tears. Garet was sad, and tried to get up to go talk to Mia. But Garet's immense pain became even worse. Garet blacked out from the pain.

Mia had run down stairs, the tears were flowing down her face, and she couldn't stop herself. Mia rushed past Garet's mother, opened the door and sprinted down the river. She could always think at the river, maybe it was because of the water, Mia didn't really care, she was just happy to have a place to think. Mia had realized, after the battle with Alex, that she hated him. _He had nearly killed all her friends and even Me. Worst of all Alex brutally wounded Garet's already annihilated body._ Mia also learned that she cared deeply for Garet. She hadn't realized it all at once, but, after a meaningful conversation with Piers, Mia had realized that she loved Garet. Mia began to think about that conversation. Piers had stayed behind in order to help Garet, and could see the look of worry on Mia's face. "Are you ok?" Piers asked. "Yes, I'm just worried about Garet." Mia replied as she began to take different roots for a potion. "Mia, can I ask a personal question?" "Go. Ahead" Mia began to pound the roots into a liquid. "Have you thought about love between any of your companions?" Piers asked bluntly. Mia was completely surprised by the question. "Well, Felix has Karst, Kraden is way too old, Ivan is too young, you are far, far older than me, Isaac is handsome, but he is interested in Jenna and maybe Calsen, and Garet…" "Yes, what about Garet?" "Garet saved my life; I don't know what to think. I know I care for him" Mia tried to explain. "Mia from what I've seen of you, I would say that you love him. You immediately set to work to help him; you risked your life to heal him, you both talk about each other a lot, from these signs I would say, again, that you love him." Piers paused as he grabbed the potion Mia had just finished making. "When I was much younger and lived in Lemuria, I fell in love, slowly but surely. I met a woman named Wanda; she was kind, beautiful, smart and most of all: loving. I began talking about her extremely often. We were always together, and then eventually, I realized that I had romantic feelings for Wanda. I asked her to marry me. She accepted, for a long time we lived immortal, and together" Piers began to feed Garet the potion. Even though he was unconscious, he would still eat and drink, it was in his nature. "What happened to her?" Mia inquired of Piers. "She died. She was executed for treason." "I'm so sorry" Mia said "It's ok Mia; I've had many years to get over it." About an hour passed, before Mia replied again. "I believe that you're correct, I love Garet." "That is good to hear Mia, after you confess it to yourself; it helps you love them more." Piers said as he looked Mia in the eyes. Mia snapped back to the present. After reflecting on the conversation, she went back to Garet's room. Garet was asleep, Mia was content, and New Vale was peaceful.

Garet woke early in the morning, he saw huge pancakes on Mia's table, and he was very excited. Garet saw Mia walk up the stairs to the attic. Mia saw that Garet was awake and excitedly said "want breakfast?" Garet said yes quite painfully. Mia went and hand-fed Garet his food. After two hours of feeding him non-stop, Mia made him stop eating. "Garet, have you had any dreams lately?" Mia inquired. "No… not dreams… mostly… nightmares" Garet confessed. "I'm sorry, that most really suck, do you want to talk about them?" "Not really… It hurts… to talk… but I'm… getting… better… at it…" "Garet can I ask you something really important?" Mia asked "Go… ahead…" "Do you love me?" Mia realized that he was surprised, so she explained. "Because recently I have realized, that I am in love with you" Garet was shocked without limit. _She loves me, she actually loves me, I never thought that it would happen, only in my dreams. "_Mia… I love you… more than… New Vale." Mia beamed at this and gave Garet a giant hug; Garet didn't even feel the extra pain because of his shock. He simply smiled. Garet had realized his love for Mia during the events at Jupiter Lighthouse, when he had leaped off to save her. At that moment Garet knew he would do anything for his friends and Mia. When Garet had first saw her, he thought she was beautiful. During the adventure, Garet had realized that she was also strong, powerful, helpful, kind and would do anything to help her friends. These attributes made Garet love her. Garet hadn't mentioned it during the mission of the lighthouses, because he didn't want to lose his focus. When they had returned to New Vale, Garet and Isaac had had conversations about it. Now Garet had almost everything he could want; an awesome girl, a great town, amazing friends. He had made a difference in the world. The only thing Garet didn't have was a working body.

Isaac was very angry. He had had the life, a beautiful girl, awesome friends and a amazing family and town. But his life was gone now, all because of Calsen. He hated her for that. She had tried to come and smooth things out, but Isaac simply ignored her. He didn't want to see her face ever again. She had made his friends mad at him, destroyed his relationship, and had even made the town disappointed in Isaac. Jenna had left him, mad at what she saw. Isaac's friends, except for Garet, had ignored everything about him, not talking to him or helping him with anything. And the mayor gave Isaac a used psyenergy stone; it was a sign of disappointment. Isaac was ashamed, he had no reason to get up and do anything. He stayed in bed, sleeping, and only eating when he had to. "ISAAC, BREAKFAST" Shouted Isaac's mother, Dora. Isaac sighed, put on new clothes, and went downstairs. His mother had made a huge breakfast with all his favorite foods, but Isaac was uninterested. After finishing his breakfast, Dora made Isaac go to Vault, in order to acquire some meat that Dora had ordered. Isaac complied and began walking to Vault. When he arrived, Isaac saw that Vault had expanded since he had last been there. It was much larger than before, and contained a new leader: Ryken. Ryken was a powerful man, he was skilled in the art of swordplay, and had defeated a giant group of bandits that were plaguing Vault. After he defeated the bandits, Vault made him the new leader. Isaac continued to the butcher, who stored the meat that Dora had ordered. Isaac walked down what he thought to be the correct street. After walking a ways down, Isaac saw Calsen's old house. Isaac was drawn to it and entered. It looked abandoned. It had dust and spider webs everywhere. Isaac remembered a old staircase in the back of the house, so he went there. Isaac went up the stairs, and saw Calsen sitting on a bed. Isaac turned to leave, when she called out his name. "Isaac? Please wait." Isaac stopped walking but didn't turn around. "Isaac, I know I ruined your life and I just need to tell you that I am sorry. I shouldn't have kissed you, I should have told you how I felt, I am sorry." Isaac turned around and said "I'm sorry to." "I went to Jenna, and tried to explain that I kissed you and that you didn't kiss me. This is what happened." Calsen turned around. There was a huge burn mark around her left eye, which was closed. Calsen's arm was obviously broken. Isaac was shocked that Jenna would do such a thing, and surprised that Calsen would go talk to Jenna. "I screwed up, and I did my best to fix it. I don't know what else to say other than, I'm sorry." Isaac was in shock and couldn't say anything. So he left the house and began to run to the butcher. As he was leaving the house, he thought that he heard Calsen begin to cry. Isaac asked a local for directions and quickly made it to the butcher. Isaac grabbed the food and was about to leave when four soldiers burst into the room. One soldier opened a paper and read it. "The butcher of Vault is hereby found guilty of treason, and is to be executed immediately" The soldier closed the paper, pulled out his sword and walked toward the butcher. "What did he do?" Isaac asked before anyone could do anything that they would regret. The soldiers were surprised by the comment but, they answered. "He tried to kill Lord Ryken by selling him bad meat." "Is that true?" Isaac asked. "No, no, no, I would never try to kill Ryken." The butcher said hastily. "Well you see sirs, it was an honest mistake, and you don't need to kill him" Isaac smiled. The soldiers looked at each other, and then approached the butcher with swords drawn. Before Isaac could shout, the butcher threw his cleaver at a soldier, it killed the man. The other soldiers attacked all swinging swords at the butcher. Isaac used psyenergy to stop the attacks. When the soldiers realized that Isaac had stopped the attacks, they attacked Isaac. Isaac defended himself against the soldiers, but, was careful not to kill any. After they were unconscious, Isaac looked at the butcher and asked "Have the guards been like this since Ryken was appointed?" "Yes, yesterday they killed the royal chef because the food tasted bad." The butcher had fear written on his face. "Is there anything I can do to help?" Isaac asked. After a long moment of silence, the butcher said two words; "Kill Ryken."

Mia was walking to Kraden's house in New Vale, hoping to talk with him. When Mia arrived she knocked on the door, she heard a faint noise so Mia opened the door and asked "Hello, is anyone here?" The noise became slightly louder, so Mia began to slowly walk to it. When Mia realized that the noise was familiar, she realized someone was speaking. Mia didn't want to eavesdrop, but she it sounded important, so Mia didn't want to interrupt. She thought she heard Felix's voice. "Kraden you don't know what all we went through together, we have a bond." Felix sounded angry. "I know that you think you two have a "bond" I am merely saying that she nearly killed Garet, and tried to murder the rest of us." Kraden also sounded angry. "NO, it wasn't Karst who nearly killed him, it was Alex." Felix was becoming angrier. "You are wrong Felix, Karst wounded Garet and Alex has nearly finished the job." Kraden was becoming calmer. "WHY DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND, I LOVE KARST AND SHE LOVES ME!" Felix seemed as though he was on the verge of snapping, so Mia opened the door and said "Felix please calm down, don't do anything that you would regret." Felix didn't say anything, he menacingly stared at Mia; it seemed as though a shadow came over him, Felix seemed dark and evil. As if his normal personality was a mask of his inner malevolence. It made Mia afraid, very afraid; she wished Garet was with her to warm her heart. Felix left quietly, bumping into Mia as he left. "What was that about?" Mia asked quietly. "He swore me to secrecy, I'm sorry." Kraden looked sorrowful. "That's okay. Kraden, can I ask you something?" "Yes go right ahead." "Garet's condition is becoming worse, his pain is worse; he can't sleep, can't move very much, and can barely speak. I was hoping that you may have knowledge of some kind of cure or herb that might be able to heal him; do you?" Mia asked desperately. "Mia… I have not read of a cure here in my personal library, but" Kraden said before Mia could cry. "I know of a place, and if a cure can be found, it will be there." "Thank you Kraden. And if you don't mind me asking, where is this place?" "King Hydros of Lemuria"

Isaac instantaneously went to see Lord Ryken, hoping that he was being over exaggerated, Isaac's hopes were obliterated. When Isaac went to the new castle that Ryken had had built, the guards would not let him in. When Isaac asked why, they told him leave now or else. "Or else what" asked Isaac. "This" said the guard as he punched Isaac in the gut. Normally Isaac wouldn't have been very affected by this, but, the guard had a metal glove on. Isaac contained his new anger by trapping the guards in a cage of stone. Isaac opened the double doors and walked into the magnificent palace. It had symmetrical pillars on the left and right, and a red carpet splitting, one down a left hall and one to the right. There was also a throne, which had a person seated in it: Ryken. "What are you doing?" asked Ryken. Ryken's voice was sturdy, and slightly menacing. "I simply came to ask you some questions and if need be, make you leave" answered Isaac. Ryken merely stared at Isaac, his gray eyes unmoving, fierce and terrorizing. "Are you executing people" "Of course, no one could enforce the law without punishments." Ryken's eyes still didn't move. "True, but are you executing criminals or people?" "Criminals" Ryken seemed angry now. "Can you prove that they are criminals" Isaac was also becoming angry. "I I deem them a criminal, then they are one" Ryken voice was slightly louder than before. "like the Butcher who accidently sold you bad meat?" "yes, he tried to assassinate me." "Ryken you are a malevolent being worthy of nothing" Isaac fiercely stated. "Guards seize him, NOW!" "On what charge" Isaac asked before the guards got to him. "My lordship allows me to create edicts, like the one I just made, that you are to be executed immediately." The guards grabbed Isaac and pulled his arms behind his back and lifted him slightly off the ground. The guards grabbed his sword, Gaia Blade, and threw it behind themselves. They then threw Isaac to the ground and raised their swords in the air, about to strike. Suddenly, Isaac's eyes glowed yellow, the color of Venus, and the guards were sent flying behind themselves. Meanwhile the Gaia Blade was sent back to Isaac who grabbed the sword mid-air and brought it to Ryken's neck. "I see that you are an Adept, I could use one with your, abilities, in my army." Ryken calmly told Isaac. "I want nothing to do with you, and why aren't you scared; I just easily defeated your men?" Isaac was slightly confused. "A pity Adept. I was hoping to see you as a general of my forces…. Oh and I'm not scared because of my bodyguard, Arianna" Ryken motion his head to his right, and Isaac saw a young woman holding to short swords. She had shoulder length red hair, and very light pink skin. She had long black pants and black combat boots. The woman, Arianna, had a very revealing vest on, it was black with a red trim that matcher her hair. Arianna was extremely beautiful and was approaching Isaac with her swords drawn and one hand raised in front of her. A wall of fire surrounded Isaac and Ryken, Isaac was trapped and didn't want to admit it. "You see Adept, you **cannot** my bodyguard is a extremely talented and powerful warrior who is also strong Mars Adept." Ryken laughed as he pushed Isaac away and walked to the edge of the flame, it opened for Ryken and he walked outside of it. Isaac was angry now, his eyes glowed again, and he summoned Venus Psyenergy to fling him above the flames. Isaac's plan worked to perfection, he flung himself over the wall of fire and landed feet first on Arianna's head; slamming her into the ground. She quickly rolled backwards and smashed her knees into Isaac's chest, he fell back a few steps and Arianna stood up. She reached for her swords and Isaac knew she was going to be deadly with them. She lunged with her blades and Isaac was only able to block one. The attack that hit him went into his shoulder, and Isaac yelled in pain. Isaac swung his sword upward, hitting Arianna's wrist. Isaac saw a little bit of blood trickle out of Arianna's gash. Isaac smiled, happy that he had hit her. Arianna then pressed an attack while Isaac was slightly dazed, Isaac was only barely able to block and dodge. The first blade went high, so Isaac blocked it with his sword; the second blade went low so Isaac jumped. Isaac thought he heard a Ryken yell for guards. Isaac gulped as he did a back flip to dodge a attack. Isaac realized he had to finish this soon or else the guards might finish him. Isaac focused his full attention on Arianna; he summoned a Djinn, Flint to attack. Flint attacked and Arianna was slightly surprised, so the attack worked quite well, and Isaac continued to use Djinn, resulting in Isaac being on the offensive instead of the defensive. After achieving four Djinn attacks, Arianna knew how to block them. So Isaac quit using them. He saw that the guards had surrounded him, and that there was a huge banging on the entry doors. Isaac used a psyenergy attack, Ragnarok, and the mighty sword sent Arianna flying into the doors; opening them. It was the Butcher and many townspeople and a few soldiers! Isaac ran through the stunned soldiers and met the Butcher. "When I heard that you were going to see Ryken, I gathered many of the people who dislike Ryken and his soldiers. We went to the blacksmith and gathered weapons; we are here to help you dethrone Ryken!" "I thank you for the help friend, but please I do not want any of you hurt, please leave me to stop him." Isaac said. "It is to late Isaac, the people are fed up with Ryken, and they will not back down now." The Butcher pushed Isaac aside and entered the castle, the other people entered as well, and the battle began. The hall was filled with fighters, there were probably two people for every guard, but the guards were better trained. While fighting, Isaac saw Arianna stab the Butcher, Isaac screamed "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" and rushed Arianna, he swung high and used psyenergy send a earthquake underneath her, making her lose her balance and Isaac successfully stabbing her in the leg. Arianna created a huge fireball and threw it at Isaac; he created a wall of earth to black it. The wall absorbed most of the attack, but unexpectedly, some of the attack went through the wall and hit Isaac. Before the fight could continue, everyone heard a scream: Ryken's. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Ryken fell to his knees and said "I've lost" then he fell face first onto the ground. Behind Ryken's body was the Butcher, who was dying. Isaac ran to him to try and heal him. "Hold still friend, I may be able to heal you" Isaac said just before he began using Venus Psyenergy. Isaac's attempts were unsuccessful and the Butcher was still bleeding out. Then Arianna walked over, "Let me help" she said a s she went to her knees in front of the Butcher. "Why should I" Isaac asked. "Because if you do not, then he will die" Arianna said as she began focusing her Mars Psyenergy and tried, with Isaac to heal the Butcher. This time it was successful. The Butcher sat up. "Thank you" he said before he passed out again due to exhaustion. Isaac knew the Butcher would be ok, so Isaac went to the next most important item on his agenda. "Why did you help me?" Isaac asked Arianna. "I was only helping Lord Ryken because he was paying me very well. Since he was dead, there was no point in letting a innocent man die." She explained. Isaac realized then that she had a slight accent, but he couldn't pin point it. "That shows some real character" Isaac admitted. "Thank You" Arianna said. Next, Isaac stood and bellowed, "Ryken has fallen, I propose we do two things, first, we should choose a new leader, I propose the Butcher" The people made shouts of agreement, so Isaac continued. "I will let him know your decision when he awakens. My second proposal is that we celebrate." The people shouted in joy at that and scurried down a hall to what Isaac assumed was the wine cellar. "Arianna will you show me one of the rooms that the Butcher can recover in" Isaac asked. Arianna simply nodded and walked down a different hall. After the Butcher was in a room sleeping peacefully, Isaac and Arianna walked to the party. The cellar was loud and there were lots of opened wine bottles. Since Isaac had turned 21 last month, he decided to grab a cup of wine and party. Normally, Isaac wouldn't be celebrating a man's death, but Ryken had killed many innocents. "I wonder how such a good man could become so corrupt." Isaac thought allowed. "He was never benevolent; Ryken paid me to lead a group of bandits on raids of Vault, and to lose to him. He arranged everything in order to become a king." Arianna answered. When Isaac heard that, he felt no more guilt at celebrating Ryken's death; Ryken was evil, and now he was dead. Isaac realized his cup was empty so he got another… and another, and another until he was very drunk. Isaac awoke the next morning with a splitting headache, he was thirsty, and the light seemed very bright. Due to his many travels during his original adventure, Isaac was able to think pretty well, and he realized that he was having a hangover. Isaac felt very thirsty so he sat up and looked around; he was in a fancy room. Isaac realized he must still be in the castle in Vault. Isaac turned and saw a bucket filled with water. Isaac stood and clumsily walked to the bucket, falling down only once. When Isaac neared the bucket he felt something climbing back up his throat, Isaac leaned over the bathtub and threw up. Then Isaac dumped his head in the bucket. After that, Isaac remembered psyenergy and used it to heal himself. It made Isaac remember last night; something that he wished had never happened. Immediately Isaac left, he grabbed his pack, which contained the meat his mother wanted and began his journey home; finally cured of his depression.

Two people other than Kraden and Mia went on the journey to Lemuria; Jenna, to knock her out of her self-pity; Ivan to pilot the ship, because Piers was exiled from Lemuria. Now Mia was going to say goodbye to Sheba. Sheba was sitting on a hill watching New Vale. "Sheba i want to ask you something." "Go ahead" Sheba still hadn't moved her gaze. "Are you mad at Felix about him and Karst?" Mia bluntly asked. Sheba chuckled before she answered. "Mia, I love him, but not like that. He saved my life and vowed to protect me. He is four years older than me. No I see him more like a big brother than as a boyfriend." Sheba had finally averted her gaze to Mia. "So, to answer your question Mia, I am ok with him dating Karst, even if she did try to kill me." Mia began to smile, but stopped when she heard Sheba's last comment. "Well Sheba are you ready to leave?" Mia asked. "Yes" Sheba replied distantly. Mia walked down to where the rest of the gang was. "Are you all ready to leave?" Mia asked. Everyone said yes, so they began the journey to the ship. It was only about a mile away because Piers was able to fly the ship above land now. When the group arrived, they put their packs down and Ivan set about setting sail. Mia, Jenna and Sheba decided to share a room, while Ivan was allowed to have his own room and Kraden also got his own room. Mia and Jenna were sitting in their room when Mia felt the ship beginning to take off. She ran to the deck as quickly as she could. The feeling of taking to the air was magnificent. It was as if she herself was flying instead of the ship. Mia always loved the feeling of flying. Mia asked Ivan how long it would be before they arrived at Lemuria. Ivan estimated that they would be there in a day or two. Mia walked back to her cabin and saw Jenna sitting there. "Jenna why aren't you doing anything, you should be enjoying life; this is the prime of your life." "Maybe for you it is. My boyfriend cheated on me, my brother is dating a chick who tried to KILL US! Yeah that just sounds great" Jenna crossed her arms and was very angry. "Jenna, first off, Karst tried to kill us because she wanted to save Prox. Wouldn't you face a supposed enemy if it meant saving New Vale? " Mia questioned as she crouched to Jenna's height. "I suppose" Jenna mumbled very softly. "But what about Isaac? He cheated on me, he is a conceited %$&$#!" Jenna shouted at Mia. "I say, forget about him, find another guy who will treat you like an angel." Mia told Jenna. "You know, I like the sound of that. I think I'll do that. Thanks Mia" Jenna gave Mia a huge bear hug. Mia walked back to the deck, hoping to get sprayed by some water, as they had finally made it to the ocean.

Two days later, the group had arrived at Lemuria. It was beginning to grow bigger, because of the Alchemy, but was still about the same size as before. When the group entered Lemuria, they hurried to the palace. The guards allowed them to enter, because the guard knew that Hydros liked them. The group finally made it to the throne room to see that Hydros was finishing a conversation with the senate. "Well as you can see I was correct, the Alchemy has made the world more prosperous. I move that we un-exile Piers" Hydros announced. "That goes against tradition" said one senator. "Tradition's are made to be broken" said another senator. Hydros simply nodded his head; Hydros looked up and saw Mia and her friends, so he walked to them. "Kraden! What are you doing here, not that I am sad to see you" "We were hoping you could help my friend with something, King Hydros" Said Kraden. "It is rather noisy here; let us retire to my room upstairs." Hydros announced. The group nodded and walked upstairs to Hydros' room. "Now, please Kraden, introduce me to your friends. I know Jenna, but not the other two." "Very well, this is Ivan, a Jupiter Adept; this is Sheba, another Jupiter Adept. And this is the healer Mia, a Mercury Adept, she is the one who needs your help" Kraden explained. "Mia please tell me what it is you need." Hydros hoped it would be very simple. "First thank you for seeing me King Hydros, and second my boyfriend, Garet, he is hurt very badly and despite my efforts I cannot seem to heal him. I was hoping that you may have some cure or way that could heal him." Mia explained while trying to hold back tears. Hydros thought long and hard before he answered. "In the ancient days of Alchemy, there grew powerful herbs, if you mixed them together, they could heal almost anything. But they became extinct when Alchemy was sealed." Hydros continued. "Since Alchemy has come back, there is a chance that these herbs could have come back also. But I do not know for sure if they have returned" Hydros finished. "Can you tell us what the herbs are?" Kraden asked. "Yes of course, there is Tunda Root, which used to grow in the mountains south of Tundaria Tower. There is also Alktian Mineral which grew in south eastern Angara deep in mines. Gaylin Weed, which used to reside at the bottom of a huge lake in old Hesperia, and the Mapolgi Flower which grew on an island far to the east." King Hydros explained. "I would hypothesize that the Tunda Root would grow at the southern mountains in Tundaria. The Alktian Mineral would grow in the Altin Mines. Gaylin Weed would grow at the bottom of the lake in Hesperia and the Mapolgi Flower would grow on the Apojii Islands" Kraden theorized. "Kraden please remember that I am not sure that those herbs still grow." "But there is a chance right?" Mia quickly asked. "I suppose so" King Hydros explained. "So if we mixed these herbs together, it would completely heal anything and anyone?" asked Kraden. "In the ancient age, yes" Hydros said. "Thank you so much King Hydros" Mia tightly hugged as she said this. "You're welcome but Mia please don't get your hopes high." Mia didn't say anything, she hugged him tighter. Mia knew that she would cry if she said anything. After everyone thanked King Hydros, the group left Lemuria intent on traveling to the Altin Mines.

As with almost all of the other cities in Angara, Altin had exponentially grown. There were many new houses and the city itself had built buildings on the mountain. There were many ladders and bridges leading to the buildings and houses on the mountain. The Inn had become larger than before now three stories instead of two. The group of Adepts quickly went to the Inn and got two rooms, one for the girls and one for the men. The Adepts were tired after having traveled for a week, so they decided to sleep and attack the mines the next day. Mia didn't like this but there wasn't much she could do about it. The group went downstairs to the dining room for dinner. The dinner was fairly simple. It consisted of a huge pot of good smelling stew, some bread with butter and juice. Although it wasn't fancy, it was still very tasty. The stew had a delightful meat in it, but no one could tell exactly what kind of meat it was. The bread was warm, but not too hot and the butter had melted beautifully. There were three types of juice you could pick from: apple, orange and grape. Everyone, except for Kraden, picked apple juice; Kraden picked grape juice as it was his favorite. There was a lot of socializing going on during the meal. Kraden and Ivan were discussing the after effects of Alchemy, what could and would happen very soon. Jenna and Sheba were reminiscing about their adventure together. Mia was sitting quietly and slowly eating her stew. Mia was way too depressed to enjoy though. Mia was scared about what might be happening to Garet at that moment, hoping that he would survive long enough to get the herbs; and they **would** get the herbs. Mia knew that she couldn't go home without the herbs. Mia was beginning to tear up; Kraden saw this and gave her a big hug while she cried on his shoulder. Kraden gently patted her back telling her it would be ok. Mia vaguely heard Jenna and Sheba saw that they were going to a bar to pick up men. Ivan said he was going to clean his equipment and possibly read in his books. Half an hour later, after finishing crying, Mia very slowly walked up to her room and lied down on her bed. Despite being angry, worried and sad; Mia quickly drifted to sleep.

What Mia saw amazed her. There was a giant tower in front of her. It was almost as high as Mercury Lighthouse. It was made of glass which aloud you to see into the tower. This is what amazed Mia; on the inside the tower was a **massive **tree that had many branches and a huge trunk. It had smaller building all around inside them; Mia realized that it was a city inside of the tower. And at that moment, Mia realized that she was dreaming. She knew that what she saw in front of her could not be created. The tower flickered brightly and then nearly faded to darkness. Mia felt a chilling presence behind her. She quickly turned around to see Alex, her despised cousin. Without saying a word Mia called down a impressive display of Ice Missiles on Alex. Alex only smirked as he raised a hand and a shield of Psyenergy surrounded him. As the missiles struck the barrier they instantly shattered into small glass-like reflections of Mia's memories of Garet. Alex was quickly forgotten when Mia saw the memory glass. Mia saw a memory of Jupiter Lighthouse, when Garet jumped to save her, she touched the glass and instantly she was there again, this time though, she could only watch as Karst and Agatio defeated Isaac and Ivan. Mia was on the other side of the bridge, opposite of Isaac and Ivan and helpless to save them. "Depressing isn't it?" Alex asked as he appeared behind her. "Mia swung a punch at his chest but it went right through him. "Why can't I hurt you?" Mia asked hoping that it worked the same way. "I am giving you a chance. We are watching together little cousin, we are **both** helpless neither of us can help" Alex said mystifyingly. "What do you mean a chance?" Mia asked. "a moment where I am allowing you to see any memory of Garet and you together that you want" Alex answered. "Why do that? You hate me and I hate you" Mia was stumped. "Stop asking questions and just enjoy this brief moment of happiness." Mia looked away for a moment and saw Karst and Agatio walk up to the Jupiter aerie. The world turned white and Mia was again overlooking the tower. The memory-glass was still there… and so was Alex. "Go ahead, pick another memory" Alex said as he watched. "Will you answer a question first?" Mia asked "Tell me the question and then we shall see" Alex replied calmly. "What does the tower represent?" Mia asked. Alex sighed before he answered. "The tower represents Garet's life force; it is flickering because he is near death." Mia was confounded; she had no idea what to do now. "What about the buildings and people inside of the tower?" She questioned. "What people?" Alex replied. This time Mia took a closer look at the tower and saw that indeed, it had no people in it. Mia had seen buildings, so she assumed people were in them. "Well what does the tree inside of the tower represent?"She asked. "When the tree shatters the glass, Garet will die; the glass represents his remaining strength and life force. Look at mine." Alex waved his hand and suddenly another tower came into view. Mia assumed it was Alex's tower. Alex's tower was a bit taller than Garet's.. Alex's tower glowed very brightly; it was difficult to look at. However Mia could tell that it was not made of glass. Alex's tower was made of a very powerful stone or metal; she could not see into the tower at all. Mia turned back to Alex, but was silenced when he waved his hand again, Mia looked back and the powerful stone was see-through. The tree inside was extremely small, in fact, Mia could barely see it. "The closer you are to death the weaker your defense becomes and the stronger the tree becomes. Now Mia I strongly suggest that you utilize the gift I have given you." Alex spoke, and with another wave of his hand Alex's tower was gone. "Alex why are you showing me this?" Mia knew Alex always had an ulterior motive. "Mia this is a dream and you know it." Alex tried to change the subject but failed. "NO! I CAN TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A NORMAL DREAM, AND THIS! NOW TELL ME WHAT IT IS THAT YOU WANT!" Mia screamed. Alex looked out at the tower in the distance. "Goodbye Mia and good luck" Alex was gone. Mia decided to use his "gift" as it allowed her to see her love. Mia looked at the memory glass and saw a memory that she truly loved. It was of her and Garet while building New Vale. She touched the glass and was transported there. Mia watched as Garet fell off the roof he was working on, he hit the ground hard and broke an arm. Mia watched as she healed his arm and gave him a hug. The world turned white again and Mia was returned to the memory glass. She saw another memory of when she, Jenna, Isaac, Garet went to the forest to hunt. After a few successful hours of hunting, the group set up tents. They heard water and together went to the river. Jenna spoke first "Hey guys, let's go swimming" "Wait, we don't have swimming clothes." Isaac established. "So what?" Jenna said as she threw her shirt to Isaac. Jenna walked behind a rather big bush and began to disrobe herself. Everyone was surprised, but Garet was the first to speak up "Yeah let's do it" He threw his fist in the air and then took off his shirt as he to went behind a large bush to remove the rest of their clothing. Mia and Isaac both shrugged and went to the girl bush and guy bush respectively. After two hours of swimming, everyone was tired. Isaac got out first, and made everyone look away as he stepped out of the river and dressed himself. Jenna was next. She got out while Garet was turned. Mia saw herself walk to the bush where her clothes were and began to robe herself. Garet obviously didn't see her as when he left the river, as he changed clothes in front of her. Mia saw herself giggle, but out of kindness, turned away and didn't say anything or look at him. When Mia arrived at the tent, she saw Isaac and Jenna making out. _Typical_ Mia thought as she ignored them and went to her tent. Mia remembered thinking of the numerous ways she could embarrass Garet. Mia was then returned to her original place overlooking the tower. Mia thought about picking another memory but decided against it, thinking it best to awaken from this extremely long dream.


	8. Hurt: Death in the Family

**Chapter 9, **_**Hurt**_**: Death in the Family**

**Author note: There will be character death in this chapter**

Mia awoke and saw Sheba, Jenna, Kraden and Ivan looking over her. "What's going on guys?" Mia asked. "You were asleep for a week." Answered Jenna quickly. "And we really didn't want to leave you behind as we traversed the Altin Mines." Ivan said. "Mia my dear, are you okay?" Kraden asked. "No Kraden I'm perfectly fine." "Well if you're perfectly fine then why did you pass out for a week?" Sheba asked. "I don't know but that isn't important right now, what we need to do is go to the Altin Mines to get the mineral there… Come on let's GO" Mia said with a shout. Feeling no need to argue with a earlier depressed woman, the group followed her into the mines. Due to the Alchemy being released, Altin had prospered and the mines were much deeper than before. The group walked down, and down and down and down for half an hour before coming to a fork in the road. The mines were very dark here but Jenna was able to make a torch using her Mars Psyenergy. They continued down the trail and began to notice spider webs. As they went further down the path the walls were almost completely white from the webs. Suddenly something black flew at Kraden. It hit him square in the chest and knocked him flat on the ground. In an instant the black creature was in half from Tisiphone Edge; Ivan's sword. Jenna made her torch bigger and everyone saw that the creature was a spider one foot wide and six inches tall. Jenna drew her sword, Phaeton's Blade. Sheba readied her staff, Lachesis' Rule. And Mia drew her staff, Atropos' Rod. "Jenna please set fire to the webs, I want to see how long this tunnel is" Jenna fired a storm of flames at the webs and they instantly set on fire, and revealed that the tunnel had what seemed to be an endpoint. Everyone began to run, as they saw that the mineral might very well be at the end of this long passage way. After ten minutes of running, they arrived at what they thought was the endpoint. It was a pit, a 5 foot wide pit. Jenna sent flames down the pit before Mia could ask her to. It kept going for awhile before hitting the ground. Mia sent water to douse the flames and then used Mercury psyenergy to make a slide to the bottom. Ivan chuckled and jumped. Falling and at the last moment using Jupiter Psyenergy to slow his descent. Mia, Kraden and Jenna went down her ice slide while Sheba also jumped and glided down. When they reached the bottom Jenna sent out a beam of Mars Psyenergy which showed that this cavern was also long. The group walked down for two hours before stopping and resting. They opened the tents and Jenna lit a lamp she had brought with her. Ivan took the first shift. This time Mia had a nice simple dream about her apprentices. She awoke when she felt Jenna shaking her. "Your turn Mia" Jenna said with a smile. Mia nodded and stood and walked to the lamp when she heard a something. Jenna, who had not yet fallen asleep, heard it also and quickly went to Mia. Mia turned to Jenna when she heard Jenna moving. They began walking toward the noise and looked at where they had heard it. They didn't see anything and Jenna even lit a flame but saw nothing on the ground before them. Jenna shrugged and walked back to her sleeping bag quickly falling asleep. Mia went to the lamp and looked at it. Mia began thinking very deeply about her dream of the tower. So deeply, that she didn't notice the spider that crawled behind her and bit her foot and injected deadly poison into her. Mia simply felt tired, and fell onto the ground unconscious.

Isaac arrived at Garet's house shortly after Isaac's return. He went upstairs and saw Piers tending to Garet. As soon as Piers saw Isaac he left the room. "Hey buddy" Isaac said to his best friend "How yah been dude." Isaac asked as he sat next to Garet's bed. Garet coughed and then answered "I've been better… and worse, at least now I can actually talk without coughing between every word." Garet said grimly in a very gruff voice. "I got you a gift" Isaac said. Isaac put it in Garet's hand, it was a longsword. "What is it?" Garet asked in his, now normal, gruff grim voice. "It is an enhanced Mars Longsword. It is comparable, in terms of power, to Piers' Excalibur" Isaac explained. "What is its name" Garet asked and then coughed very hard. "I named it Vulcan's Might. It's for when you get better" Isaac stated as he held it out in front of Garet so he could see it. Its metal was red dark red but lighter than blood. It had gold lines on the edges, which Garet realized was Orihalcon. The hilt was jet black with a red diamond in the middle and six gold lines coming out of the diamond. Two lines went to the left guard, to the right guard and two down the handle. Garet ignored the pain and touched his new sword; Garet could feel the power in it and knew that it was stronger than Excalibur and but weaker than the Gaia and Sol Blades. (Author Note: Isaac uses the Gaia Blade and in my fanfic it is only a little bit weaker than the Sol Blade; Felix uses the Sol Blade) "How did you make a powerful Orihalcon strong Mars longsword?" Garet questioned. "I asked Sunshine to help" Isaac smirked. "Wait Sunshine lives in Yallam how did you get there" Garet asked. "Luckily for you and me, he went to Tolbi, I asked him to make the sword then. As it happens, it has taken him that long to perfect the longsword and he was headed to New Vale to give it to me, luckily he only had to travel to Vault." Isaac's smirk had grown into a full smile. "Thank You Isaac" Garet said in an extremely sincere voice. "I'm glad that you like it" Isaac said then he went downstairs and Piers returned to Garet. After Isaac left Garet's house, he went back to his home and gave Dora the meat she requested. "Thank you son" Dora said as she began to light a fire to cook the meat. "Mom… I'm leaving" Isaac broke the news bluntly. "I knew this was coming" Dora said as she repeatedly tried to light the fire. Isaac walked to her and lit the fire for her. "Mom I still love you and I'm going to come back" Isaac said. Dora looked into his eyes and after a pause said "I can see it in your eyes son" Dora turned back to her cooking and sniffed as she obliterated the tears in her eyes. Isaac quickly went to the mayor's office and caught his father, Kyle, leaving the office. Isaac told Kyle the news. "I understand son" Kyle said affectionately. "I'm glad you do" Isaac smiled and went to gather his weapons and armor. Isaac took special care to retrieve the Gaia Blade from the hidden chest underground. Isaac gathered his Djinn: Flint, Quartz, Vine, Sap, Ground, Bane, Geode, Salt and Crystal. He absorbed them into his consciousness and quickly left town. Isaac traveled through the night to achieve his first destination of Bilibin.

When Isaac arrived in Bilibin, he saw that it hadn't grown very much at all. Isaac ignored his weary bones and walked to the McCoy's manor. When the guards saw him they instantly let him in. They recognized him and remembered his instrumental part in helping cure the curse. Isaac hurried to talk to Lord McCoy. Isaac walked to the door to the throne room and just before he opened it, it opened for him; and Calsen walked into him. "Sorry, I wasn't watching" Calsen said quietly. Then Calsen realized it was Isaac and she quickly ran away. Isaac shrugged his shoulders and walked into the throne room. It was decorated much like Vault's throne room, except it had two thrones. Isaac realized one throne was for Lady McCoy and the other was for Lord McCoy. It was easy to figure out because they were both seated there. "Isaac, is that you?" Lord McCoy asked. "Yes, my lord" Isaac bowed as he answered. "Rise, young knight" commanded Lady McCoy. "What brings you here?" asked McCoy. "Yes, what may we do for you?" Lady McCoy said seductively. Isaac gulped before he spoke. "I am hoping that you can allow me a horse for travel to Tolbi. Vault and New Vale can't spare any horses." Isaac knelt and looked straight down at the floor. McCoy looked at Lady McCoy then back at Isaac. "We will grant you what you seek" answered McCoy as he reached and grabbed Lady McCoy's hand. Lady McCoy waved a servant over to lead Isaac to the stables. Lady McCoy instructed the servant to let Isaac pick any horse he wanted. The servant led Isaac through the manor and out a new side door. The servant then brought Isaac to the newly finished Royal Stables. There were three horses that Isaac considered: A white horse named Knight; a black horse named Sabre and another black horse. However the second black horse had red eyes which is how he received the name of Phoenix. Apparently Phoenix had a disease that made his heart much bigger than the average heart, but he would also die sooner. Isaac decided on Phoenix because he was the fastest of the horses. Isaac walked up to Phoenix and put his hand on the horse. Isaac channeled his Venus Psyenergy into the horse analyzing his disease. Isaac realized how to cure the horse and quickly did so however this drained him of his last bit of energy. Isaac lost consciousness. The servants watching took him to a guest room in the palace to recuperate.

Mia looked around. She realized that she was in the hill where the memory glass had appeared… and Alex. Mia looked around and saw that the tower before her was very, **very** thin, the glass looked like it could shatter at any moment, and the tree inside was huge. The tree had one large branch that had actually gone through the thin glass. The glass wasn't shattered all the way so Mia knew that Garet was alive. Mia looked at the memories she closed her eyes and touched a random piece of glass. It was of when Garet was sick from Karst's attack and Mia was healing him. Mia smiled. She remembered this memory very well. She had intentionally put the painkiller herb on the top shelf. She knew Garet was awake and had decided to reveal what Alex had done. She had even bathed knowing that he was completely awake. Mia wanted Garet to think of her in that way. She had loved him for over two years! Mia watched as he pretended to be asleep. Mia smiled. Mia watched as she washed Garet's body while he was actually asleep in order to stop any infections. When Mia heard herself say Alex's name the world turned white and she was sent back to the hill. Upon hearing his name, Alex appeared. Mia didn't even turn around; she looked at the tower in the distance. "Why is the tower getting worse?" Mia asked. "Because you have poison in you" Alex said. This caused Mia to turn. She looked but Alex simply waved goodbye as his body vanished into white light. Mia forced herself awake. Mia opened her eyes to see Jenna above her with a worried look on her face. Next to Jenna was a man from Colosso, but Mia couldn't remember his name. Both of their hands were just above her stomach and Mia could see the yellow and red psyenergy they were pumping into her. Mia could see a white light in front of her. It felt just like Garet; with his heat and comfort ability. Mia embraced the white light.

"Hurry were losing her" Shouted Jenna who was pumping as much psyenergy into Mia as she could. The man next to her nodded and his psyenergy became thicker and stronger. Kraden reached into his pack and pulled out a potion and a Water of Life. Quickly he poured it into Mia's mouth one at a time. Mia coughed but still remained asleep. Sheba and Ivan each pulled out a psyenergy crystal and activated it one on the man and one on Jenna. The psyenergy auras became much bigger and everyone thought Mia was going to live. Suddenly small noises were heard; Ivan fired a blast of lightning down the cave to see what it was. The spiders had returned. There were over a hundred of them. Ivan and Sheba each went on the offensive. They fired multiple blasts of lightning at the small monsters. They were dying rapidly but more were coming. Sheba unleashed a powerful tempest and Ivan fused it with his lightning which killed at least 50 of them. But more were coming. Ivan and Sheba knew they couldn't stop them. They prepared themselves for a final blast of lightning before losing all of their remaining energy. However instead of being overrun, two barriers of earth closed the entrances to the camp. The man from Colosso had caused it. He was a Venus Adept. "Running out of psyenergy," Jenna said grimly. Jenna fainted from exhaustion. The man was obviously running out of energy also but pressed on. Sheba transferred her energy into Jenna who returned from exhaustion and began pumping psyenergy into Mia. Slowly, Mia's eyes opened Jenna and the man didn't notice because they were healing her. Then Jenna felt Mia leave. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

Garet awoke to hear the thunder boom loudly. Garet was making remarkable progress, he could speak normally and feed himself. Garet, in extreme pain, moved himself into his wheelchair that was powered by his psyenergy. Garet made the wheelchair move in front of the window. It was raining very hard. Garet could see that the rain was extremely intense. Garet used the Psyenergy power, Move, and called Vulcan's Might to him. Garet gripped the black hilt and slowly, lifted himself up. For the first time in three months, Garet was standing! Garet looked out the window and stared at the rain. Suddenly, a piece of hail shattered his window, and launched Garet into his wheelchair and then into his bed. The hail was weak but so was Garet. The second the hail hit him, Garet felt Mia call to him, and then leave, her presence gone. Garet realized that she had died and, for the first time in a long time, shed tears.

"Ivan get over here, NOW" shouted Jenna as she continued to pour psyenergy into Mia's body. "Her heart stopped, electrocute her to re start her heart" Kraden revealed Jenna's plan. Ivan nodded and asked Jenna to look away. Jenna looked at Matthew, the man from Colosso that had mysteriously showed up. Jenna saw his hands forming a triangle in front of his chest. Jenna felt the blast of electricity; but Mia did not return. "Again" Kraden commanded. Jenna looked at Matthew, and saw that now there was a glowing, obviously powerful, ball of psyenergy in the middle of his triangle. Again Jenna felt the blast of electricity but nothing else. Ivan's second try failed as well. Jenna looked at Matthew again and saw that he was moving the force of psyenergy he held closer to Mia. Jenna heard Ivan growl as this time he drew his sword, summoned all of his Djinn and psyenergy into his sword, Tisiphone Edge. Ivan held it high until it had electricity almost shattering it. Ivan swung the sword about an inch from Mia's chest and cried "THUNDER SOUL" Ivan's strongest and newest technique. It required every bit of power he had. Garet was staring out the window, with silent tears mourning Mia. Suddenly there was a **huge** lightning strike.

Mia was in the white light. It made her feel just the way that Garet did. Warm, safe, happy; Mia loved it. Then Alex appeared. Mia was shocked. She didn't think that evil entities could still torment her in the afterlife, apparently Mia was wrong. "What are you doing here?" asked Mia. "To help you" answered Alex. "I'm in the afterlife, there is nothing that you can help me with" harshly Mia said. "Mia, your journey is not done, there is still more for you to do" Alex said. "no" Mia said quietly. "Go, Now" the white light grew grey. "Come Mia we must leave now" again the white light turned darker. "Mia, this is your last chance of life" Alex said. The blast went off again, but this time kept going. "Alex I'm too weak to return" Mia gave in only because it would mean seeing Garet again. Alex walked quickly to Mia and placed a hand on her chest. Alex was giving her the energy she needed. The light changed again, this time, a small circle with a image of Garet opened. Mia knew where it led, and quickly jumped through, her soul returned to her body in the Altin Mines. Garet shed no more tears. He felt Mia's reassuring presence again. Garet had his Mia back. Jenna smiled when she saw Mia's soul reunite with her body. Jenna watched as Matthew quickly put the yellow ball of psyenergy back into himself. "MIA" Jenna shouted as she hugged her tightly. "Don't ever die again" Jenna told Mia. Mia smiled; she was at a loss for words. After a few hours of making sure Mia was ok; the group interrogated Matthew. "Not that we aren't thankful for your help, but why are you here?" Kraden asked. "After Colosso, I returned here, to my home and began mining again. I made it deeper than ever before. When your group arrived I heard that you were headed into the mines so I decided to help you" Answered Matthew. "Why did you want to help us" Jenna questioned. "Do I really need a reason?" Matthew asked Mia and Jenna looked at each other before they answered. "I guess not" they said at the same time.

Isaac awoke feeling weak but well. As he awoke he briefly wondered where he was before remembering Phoenix and Bilibin. Isaac started to stand and nearly fell as he felt his legs shake. A servant rolled in a cart filled with fantastic foods. Isaac felt his stomach rumble and decided to sit down and eat. After a hearty meal of pancakes, hash browns, milk and biscuits, Isaac went down to the stables feeling a lot better. Isaac mounted Phoenix and went to Bilibin's exit. Just as he was about to leave a servant came up hollering Isaac's name. "What is it?" Isaac asked. "Lord McCoy" The servant paused to gather more bread. "Asked me to bring you food for your journey" the servant panted more and lifted up a large sack filled with three loaves of bread, ham, a carton of milk and a square of cheese. "Thank you very much" Isaac gave the young servant 25 coins and then galloped away towards Tolbi.

After a day of rest, Mia and the group let down the earth barriers and continued down the large mine. Strangely, they didn't come across any more spiders. After several hours, they reached what seemed a ancient stone hallway. It had many markings on the decaying walls and eventually, the group reached the end of the hallway. At the end stood a stone pedestal that held up a tablet with strange markings that were obviously decayed. Kraden went forward. After ten minutes, Kraden spoke "I believe I have translated it" Kraden turned to address the group. "It reads: Powerful warriors heed thy warning and turn back now. Evil cannot gain what is in thy temple. If evil doest, then shalt be lost. If thou disregard thy warnings, know this: the Guardian will destroy thou." No one said anything for a moment, they looked at their feet. "I have to continue for Garet" Mia looked up and pulled free her staff, Atropos' Rod. "I'm with you to the end Mia" Jenna drew Phaeton's Blade and took a step forward. Ivan Sheba and Kraden also joined and everyone looked to Matthew. He smirked and drew his sword. "I'm in too" Matthew swung his sword in a circle. "Hey Matthew, what's your swords name?" Sheba asked. "I call it Ra's Vengeance" Matthew smiled. Matthew walked forward and put his hand on the pedestal. The marks began to glow brightly throughout the entire tunnel. The wall slowly began to open. Inside was a huge open spaced temple. The entrance opened up to a catwalk to the right and left. At the end of both catwalks was a large stairwell. However the stairs were broken on both sides. Mia walked to the left stairwell and used ice to fix the stairs. The group followed down to the bottom lair of the temple. At the bottom of the temple was a second pedestal. Again Matthew walked to the pedestal and placed his hand on it. This time the entire temple shined as the markings glowed. A portion of the floor opened up revealing a staircase shrouded in darkness. Mia thought she heard something move. Suddenly hundreds of big spiders crawled out. Before they could even begin to attack Jenna unleashed Mars Psyenergy to burn all of the spiders to burnt crisps. Everyone nodded to each other and they began to walk down the stairs, weapons drawn. "Jenna some light please" Kraden said. Jenna made a flame large enough for everyone to see in front of them. Mia thought she heard something move again. The group continued to walk through the eerie dark passage. Jenna was leading the way in order to show the light. The light soon revealed a red lighted pit.

The group walked to the edge to see that deep in the pit was lava. Before anyone could say anything, they heard the war cry of a monster. To be more specific, it was a huge monster. To be even more specific it was a huge spider-monster. The spider had eight legs, and the normal spider body, except it was about the size of the Doom Dragon. It bellowed the war cry even louder and the sound waves moved the entire group much closer to the edge of the pit. The spider leaped at the group. Kraden dove to the right and covered his head. Ivan and Sheba both dropped and rolled to the right. Mia threw herself under the monster and fired ice missiles into its underbelly. Jenna was sent over the edge towards the lava. However she stabbed her staff deep into the side of the pit stopping her fall. Matthew jumped over the spider and plunged his sword downward into the spider's back. It roared in pain as it rolled into a wall; smashing Matthew into the wall also. With Jenna over the edge, the tunnel was in darkness. The spider used its advantage to stealthily approach the Jupiter Adepts. With one leg it slashed open Sheba's abdomen and with another it tried to stab Ivan. However his reflexes were good enough to allow him to dodge the strike and cut into the spider's leg. Meanwhile Sheba sent plasma strikes into the spider. It hissed in anger. Mia sent more ice missiles at the spider but they missed. "SOL STRIKE" screamed Matthew as he stabbed his burning sword into the spider. It roared again and went to the edge of the pit. Matthew sprinted at it and again cried out. "MOVE" a giant hand began to push the spider over the edge, but it was fighting the psyenergy. Matthew held up his sword as he plowed into the spider, sending both over the edge. Mia ran to the edge and saw that Jenna was hanging there… and holding onto Matthew's hand! Mia reached down her staff and Matthew climbed up and together they helped Jenna up too. "What happened to the spider" Mia looked over the edge again to see if it was climbing up. "It fell into the lava" answered Jenna. Together they looked over the edge. What they saw sent terror into their veins. The lava was transforming into the shape of a fiery monster; a fiery spider-monster. "YOU FOOLS" It screamed as it began crawling up the pit. "I AM THE GUARDIAN, none can defeat me" The Guardian announced. "We have to you stupid beast" Shouted Mia right back at it. She sent several ice missiles down at the guardian. The Guardian jumped all the way up and through the pit. Mia now had a closer look at it. It had become larger, and the fur it had was now fire or lava. The skin was molten earth. It was hideous. It opened its mouth and fire erupted from its throat. Matthew blocked the attack with Venus Psyenergy and then activated his physical psyenergy, the final form of Ragnarok; Cessation. Three giant blades of Venus Psyenergy punctured the Guardian who then screamed in fury. Jenna fired her strongest psyenergy Searing Beam. Ivan and Sheba fired their strongest psyenergy: Spark Plasma. The Guardian screamed again. The lava began to cover the rest of the Guardian's body. It said a word in some ancient language and The Guardian's entire body became covered in lava. At an extreme speed, it went flying at Jenna. She closed her eyes and held up her arms in defense; but the strike never came. Jenna opened her eyes and saw Matthew in front of her. _He blocked the strike for me_. Jenna realized in surprise. The Guardian opened its mouth and blasted Matthew with concentrated with fire. It launched Matthew into the wall behind the pit. He was unconscious. The Guardian went right in front of Jenna and raised a leg and sent it right through Jenna's shoulder. It punctured her again, this time in her stomach. The Guardian threw her to the edge of the pit. Matthew opened his eyes. He saw the Guardian smash Sheba and Ivan with its left leg and with the second leg smashed Mia into a wall. It raised its legs above Jenna ready to end her life. Matthew tightened his grip on Ra's Vengeance. Matthew leaped with all his strength over Jenna and raised his sword in front of his chest. The Guardian hissed at Matthew's face. Matthew stabbed his sword into The Guardian's face it went through its head. Matthew pulled his sword back and blocked The Guardian's head butt with his free hand and with his sword hand stabbed The Guardian's neck. Matthew pulled his sword through the Guardian's neck and out its mouth. The guardian screamed extremely loudly in pain. Again the lava covered all of its body. And it transformed, it a burning ball of vengeance. It smashed into Matthew and sent him all the way into the bottom of the pit. This created a large crater. The Guardian stood again ready to finish off Matthew. Matthew whispered "Cessation" three giant blades pinned The Guardian into the ground. Matthew lifted up Ra's Vengeance. Matthew unleashed his strongest attack, Bane of Apophis. A giant golden eagle, twice the size of the Guardian, appeared from the sword. The Eagle went right into the Guardian smashing it into the top of the cavern. When it reached the top of the cavern, it exploded in a golden light. The Guardian crashed into the crater… dying. Matthew walked up to the dying Guardian and with a strong strike beheaded it. When the Guardian died, it dissolved into a blue mineral. The rest of the group descended and saw the mineral; Mia collected it in a special glass jar and then healed Matthew. After he was able to walk the group began the journey to leave the mine, with the Alktian Mineral.

Isaac had finally made it to Tolbi. He was ecstatic. However as soon as he was in the city, Isaac went straight to the inn. He paid for his room and quickly went to sleep. Three days later he awoke, still weak from the journey. Isaac slowly made his way downstairs. Isaac was wearing black pants and black boots with a dark blue jacket that he had left unbuttoned. Isaac walked down to the dining room. He walked up to the breakfast line. Isaac only had four people in front of him. The first was a very fat middle aged man. The second was a very skinny young man of medium height with a monocle and curly orange hair. The other two looked to be newlyweds. They were holding hands and standing extremely close to each other. They had shiny rings on their hands, signifying their marriage. Eventually Isaac was at the front of the line. He had a choice of bacon, eggs or hash browns with pancakes, biscuits or taquitos. Greedily, Isaac paid extra in order to eat all of the meals. Balancing three trays was difficult but with psyenergy, Isaac managed. After about five minutes of eating, Isaac was done. He felt a lot like Garet. Isaac paid for his other two nights of staying and asked the inn keeper to keep his room available. Isaac went upstairs to his room and took a quick bath before putting on new attire. Wearing his normal outfit, Isaac walked downstairs to leave the inn. On the way out Isaac saw the newlyweds making out. Isaac smirked. He walked down the stairs and up towards the palace. Nostalgia gripped Isaac as he walked up to the palace. Isaac was remembering the fun times with Jenna at the palace. Isaac frowned at remembering Jenna. Not because he was angry at her, more out of sadness that they were not together anymore. Isaac reached the front doors and walked into the palace and quickly made his way to the palace. There, Iodem was conversing with the current king, Jerome. "We must defend ourselves your highness" screamed Iodem. "We have done nothing to provoke them so why would they be attacking us?" questioned the king. "BECAUSE WE ARE STRONG AND THEY WANT POWER" bellowed Iodem. After a pause the king said "We have company we will continue this conversation later" Iodem turned around and saw Isaac. "Isaac, how are you" Iodem shook Isaac's hand. "I'm doing fine Iodem, your highness." Isaac bowed. King Jerome signaled for Isaac to rise. "Isaac we have called you here because we have need of you. Lalivero, Lunpa and Suhalla have created an alliance with intent to destroy Tolbi" King Jerome gazed at a stain glass window, and then he spoke again. "We need your help to stop them from defeating us; they have several powerful champions ready to annihilate us. That is why we need you in order to defeat these champions. If there champions are defeated then their armies will fall; Isaac we **need **you to be our champion. Will you?" Jerome and Iodem both stared at Isaac. He met their gazes and nodded. "Yes sire I will do what I can for Tolbi" Isaac closed his eyes. "Isaac kneel" Iodem commanded. Isaac did as he was told and watched as Iodem handed the king his sword. "Rise Isaac, CHAMPION OF TOLBI"

After a few days of rest, Mia and her group began traveling south to Tundaria. After arrive at their ship the group boarded. Because Matthew had decided to stay with the group Ivan got a roommate. Matthew still couldn't walk very well so Jenna offered to help him walk. "So Matthew, do you have some evil secret reason for helping us?" Jenna smirked. "Yes secretly I'm Alex using magic to change my appearance. I'm just joking Jenna" Matthew teased. "Well how can you prove you're not evil?" questioned Jenna. "I'll prove it later" as Matthew said it he stood up said a quick bye and went to his room. Jenna was surprised, and quickly skipped to Mia to talk to her about it. After an hour, the girls returned to their rooms and fell asleep. Mia dreamed of her and Garet having a picnic in New Vale. Jenna dreamt of making out with Matthew.

The next day everyone awoke to Ivan's announcement of land. Quickly getting dressed, Jenna hurried to the top deck. Jenna saw the land and smiled, she actually enjoyed the cold more than others, particularly because, (being a Mars Adept) it rarely had an ill effect on her unless she was facing a Mercury Adept. To Jenna, the air in Tundaria felt like a cool fall breeze. She especially loved the snow even though it almost always melted when she touched it. Matthew however did not enjoy the cold, he always felt far away from the ground; which _never_ felt good. Mia felt at peace with the cold but didn't much enjoy it. Ivan was indifferent to the cold and Kraden hated it because it made him feel old. As she stepped off, Jenna saw that Matthew was shivering, she made her way to him and grabbed his hand, she spread her Mars Psyenergy into him and warmed him. Matthew smiled and pulled her closer to him; they shared a quick look and smiled together. For the first time in a long time, Jenna felt happy. After everyone had collected their respective supplies, the group set of for the Tundaria Mountains. After twelve grueling hours of trekking through snow, the group arrived at Tundaria Tower; their intended location.

After countless hours of walking, Jenna was extremely happy to be able to rest. As usual, it was cold. Jenna traveled down the left staircase to make sure no monsters were going to attack them. After clearing it out, Mia created two separate walls of ice to keep any unseen monsters out. The group headed through the doorway in front of them and set up camp. Although she was a fire adept and most of the time that alone kept her warm, Jenna was tired and when tired her abilities don't work their best. So after being almost completely exhausted from walking all day, Jenna was starting to get a bit cold. "A bit cold are you?" asked sweet Matthew. Jenna looked up at him before replying. "Yeah which seems a bit odd" Jenna giggled as she continued, "what about you earth boy?" "Earth boy? My name is Matthew thank you very much, and I am freezing" Matthew sat down next to Jenna and leaned against an icy cold wall. "Wow that's cold" Matthew commented as he settled into place. After a few hours of planning, eating and talking the group was getting sleepy. "So Matthew" Mia paused to yawn "Where did you get that sword from?" "My father gave it to me just before he left for Colosso 15 years ago. He told me to keep it safe and that he would need it back when he returns; but he died in Colosso" Matthew looked at the ceiling and closed his eyes for a moment. "I'm so sorry Matthew" Mia said, everyone else nodded their heads. After a moment of silence Kraden spoke up. "Well we better get to sleep if we want to have energy tomorrow" With that he and Ivan stood and headed to the designated men's bedroom. Matthew was about to stand up when he felt something on his shoulder, he turned his head and saw Jenna asleep. He thought that she looked like an angel; with her beautiful crimson hair and content look on her face. Matthew had no idea what to do. _Should I wake her or Should I let her stay here, she is beautiful , and that hair the beautiful hair… _Matthew looked over and saw Mia walking to her room. He waved his free arm trying to get her attention without waking Jenna. Although Mia did see Matthew she was conflicted, she knew Matthew liked Jenna a lot and she also knew that Jenna recuperated those feelings but Mia also loved Isaac and Jenna as a couple. She figured they would be over the Calsen issue and together again by now. Ultimately Mia decided to leave Matthew to his plight; figuring that if Isaac and Jenna were meant to be then they would end up together regardless of Matthew. Matthew still didn't know what to do, Matthew really liked the way she looked but felt that it would be awkward if she woke up. After ten minutes Matthew decided to just leave her be, he enjoyed where she was and she was content so he just lay there, drifting off to sleep.

It was the middle of the night when Jenna and Matthew awoke in unison. For a moment they just sat there looking away because neither of them wanted it to be awkward which was just making it more awkward. After a couple of minutes, Matthew and Jenna, again in unison, looked at each other. "Sorry I fell asleep on you" Jenna offered with a look of guilt. "It was no problem, my shoulder was especially cold and your hair warmed it" Matthew wasn't exactly lying, his shoulder was very cold and she had warmed it if only a little bit. "Is there anything else that is especially cold?" question Jenna with a devilish smile. "Well my lips **are** a **bit** cold" Matthew mention casually. "Here let me warm them for you" Jenna said as she leaned in. The kiss made Jenna's heart leap. The kiss seemed to last forever in Jenna's eyes and, it could have if it hadn't been for Kraden walking in to go "squeeze the lemon". Kraden's eyes grew big in shock. "What do you think you're doing? Here I am about to go "squeeze the lemon" and you're here kissing." Kraden felt as though his mouth would fall off if it wasn't attached. "You broke up with Isaac TWO MONTHS ago and your already dating again?" Kraden put his hands to his head and sighed "Save your "energy" for tomorrow now go and rest" Jenna and Matthew both embarrassed quickly went to their respective rooms and fell asleep quickly. "What is wrong with young ones these days" Kraden shook his head and gloomily went to sleep "nature's call" forgotten.

The next morning everyone awoke early and quickly gathered their gear When they arrived in the front room everyone saw that Kraden's cloak had a very dark spot, Matthew and Jenna could barely contain their laughter as they remembered how Kraden had had to "squeeze the lemon" last night and apparently forgotten to. They simple looked at each other and smiled. Kraden ignored their constipated look and, after Mia destroyed the ice barrier, walked through the entrance. "He forgot to pee last night" Matthew explained quickly. A universal "Ohhh" was heard from everyone and then they followed Kraden out. Matthew looked out at the snow topped mountain and was surprised to see how high up they went. Then it dawned on him that they were probably going to have to search all of those mountains and he grew sadden. Jenna noticed and slipped her hand into his and squeezed gently. Matthew looked at her mouthed a quick "thank you" and continued walking. After ten grueling hours the group stopped to take a quick brake and eat some lunch. Ivan was especially grateful because he was extra hungry. After setting up a makeshift camp, Jenna started a fire and Kraden began to cook with some help from Jenna. Ivan and Matthew were staring at the pot that contained their lunch, in unison their stomachs rumbled loudly. Jenna and Mia both giggled. Mia turned around and saw Sheba standing off to herself overlooking the mountains of Tundaria. "Sheba are you ok" Mia asked kindly. When Sheba didn't answer Mia shook her gently "Sheba are you in there?" This seemed to work well since Sheba snapped out of whatever she was doing. "What I'm sorry I didn't hear you?" Sheba replied. "I asked if you're ok, you're standing by yourself" Mia explained. "Yeah I'm fine I just can't shake this feeling that something horrible is going to happen" Sheba looked Mia in the eye and said "I feel like something is going to happen like someone might die" Mia was shaken, her first thought of Garet and if he is in critical shape. "I don't think it's about Garet though" Sheba quickly added in order to relieve Mia. "Well don't think about that, come over here and talk with us" Mia invited. Sheba simply nodded and walked down to the camp. After two hours, one of eating one of resting, the group picked up their supplies and continued on their way. Sheba, however, couldn't shake the ominous feeling of death in the air.

Isaac parried followed by a thrust and then a second parry then he thrust low, striking his opponent's shin, the man screamed in pain and with his guard down, Isaac thrust his sword just to the left of his right shoulder; effectively ending the duel but not killing his opponent either. Lunpa had demanded that Tolbi's champion (Isaac) duel two other warriors before he could fight Lunpa's champion. Isaac had just defeated his first opponent of the three. When the second walked forward, Isaac gulped but other than that made no sign of his nervousness. The second warrior was a huge, dinosaur of a man. The warrior was seven feet tall and war gray armor with blood splotches all over it. The man wielded a big mace and had a double sided Axe on his back. He also had a spear that was put just on his lower back. The man grumbled something, and then Isaac heard a judge shout "begin". The warrior threw his mace as hard as he could at Isaac. Isaac quickly rolled to his side and held the Gaia Blade close; Isaac ran at the Warrior and screamed his battle chant. The warrior seemed almost paralyzed at hearing the scream and Isaac manipulated the situation to his advantage, he cut off the man's right arm, and then swung at his waist. The man, at seeing his arm on the ground snapped out of his frozen state and jumped backward. In one swift move of his remaining arm he pulled out his axe and swung an ark, drawing blood from Isaac's side. Isaac in no mood to kid around jumped over the axe and thrust at the man's chest, the man faced with no other choice, dropped his axe and rolled backward, narrowly missing Isaac's blade. He pulled out his spear and ran at Isaac chanting his own war cry. Isaac duck, rolled and in one strike cut off the man's legs at the hips. Knowing the man would die in agony if he didn't kill him now, Isaac then thrust the blade into the man's neck, mercy-killing him. The lord of Lunpa clapped his hands and said "Well done, I suppose you have proven yourself ready for this: CHAMPION COME" shouted the lord of Lunpa. The man seemed to have a wave of darkness coated over him; his armor blood red with some dark grey splotches, his face had blood at his mouth. With horror, Isaac saw that his armor used to be dark grey and by all the people he had killed turned blood red. "What is your name, Champion of Lunpa?" Isaac asked as he stalled for time to heal himself. "They call me Rokan the Beastman" answered Rokan. "Why?" Isaac asked a little too quickly. "After the Golden Sun event, I grew fangs and fur… and an appetite for flesh" Rokan smiled, revealing his devilish fangs. "I am a beastman, the strongest of the beastmen, I am Bloodbeast" Bloodbeast roared a roar that could be heard for miles. Bloodbeast ripped off his armor, revealing his blood-soaked fur, it had used to be black but had turned red with the huge amounts of blood on it. "When I am done, with you, I will dispose of your body myself" Blood beast leaped at Isaac, easily rising ten feet. Bloodbeast's claws sank into Isaac's armor, causing Isaac to bleed even more. Bloodbeast opened its jaw revealing its sharp deadly teeth and sank them into Isaac's shoulder, ripping off the armor in the process, when Bloodbeast sank its teeth into Isaac's shoulder, Isaac felt extreme pain. Isaac thought he heard his shoulder bone crack. Isaac screamed loudly, and grabbed Bloodbeast's neck choking him, Bloodbeast removed its claw and mouth from Isaac looked at him and then slashed Isaac's throat drawing copious amounts of blood. Isaac grabbed the Gaia blade and lifted it up with his good arm, jabbing Bloodbeast and causing him to fly back. "Cessation" Isaac screamed with deadly fury. Blood beast ran and leaped at Isaac, but just before he could attack Isaac, three giant blades of Venus Psyenergy plunged into Bloodbeast, and pinned him into a wall. Isaac was far from done, first he summoned Geode, who thrust a giant sphere of earth into Bloodbeast, and then he summoned Flower he repaired many of Isaac's injuries, then Isaac summoned Flint into the Gaia Blade, Isaac launched his attack at Bloodbeast. The attack destroyed the wall and created a small new cave. Finally Isaac brought forth Bane, who fired his attack into Bloodbeast; creating a much larger cave for Lunpa's people. Isaac turned around and summoned more psyenergy into his wound; he had lost a lot of blood and hoped to make it to a sanctum first before it was too late. Suddenly Isaac felt a hand around his neck, the hand threw him very high into the air and then Isaac started to fall, but as he was falling, his opponent smashed into Isaac sending him on to the rocky area above the town. Isaac looked up and saw Bloodbeast standing over him, blood drenching from his mouth and a look of excitement on his face. "I'm going to enjoy this" Bloodbeast licked his lips and approached Isaac. "Oh I don't think so" Isaac smiled and summoned his trump card: Judgment. The mighty warrior summoned by Isaac launched his powerful attack just as Bloodbeast reached Isaac, the blast completely obliterated the already wounded Bloodbeast. When Isaac opened his eyes after the blast he saw a little blood where Bloodbeast had been standing. Isaac was relieved that Bloodbeast was gone but felt a little guilty that he was glad someone was dead, even if that person was trying to kill him. Isaac leaned back exhausted, he crawled over to the edge of the mountain and allowed himself to fall off eventually Isaac reached the sanctum and weakly stumbled in the Great Healer and his apprentices carried him over to a cot The Great Healer poured some healing liquid into Isaac's mouth healing him a lot, Isaac fell asleep quickly, a simple side effect of the potion.

After two day of searching the group still hadn't seen any trace of Tunda Root. Although Ivan and Kraden felt disheartened, Mia was determined not to let it get to her. Jenna and Matthew were a bit more absorbed in each other rather than their mission and Sheba still felt the ominous presence and it was beginning to get to her. The group's most current campsite was in a cave on a mountain 500 feet in the air. Jenna awoke and looked at her new boyfriend nearby. Jenna smiled and touched his hair lovingly, when he began to stir Jenna removed her hand and turned around and pretended to just be getting up. After everyone was ready the group finished picking up their camp gear. Matthew seemed distracted the entire time. "You ok Earth boy?" Jenna asked hoping it was nothing. "Matthew?" Jenna asked when he didn't answer. "Hmm? Oh yeah, I'm fine… just have an odd feeling" Matthew replied after a moment. "You want to talk about it?" Jenna asked as she cozied up to his arm. "No its ok I'll get over it" Jenna wasn't convinced but decided now wasn't the time to talk about it. The group followed Mia's lead, but Matthew seemed to vary side to side as if he wanted to go in another direction. After stopping for the lunch break Matthew's feeling was growing extremely powerful, the insistence to go west almost overriding his will. "Guys do you think we could go west?" Matthew asked. Mia shrugged "Yeah I guess so" "Good" Matthew instantly sprinted west. Everyone looked at each other and then ran off after Matthew. After a good ten minutes of sprinting Matthew stopped on a ridge, overlooking an open field filled with snow. After a moment's hesitation Matthew leaped off the ridge plunging deep into snow. After Matthew pulled himself out of the snow and he continued running west. The rest of the group was uneasy but, after Mia created an icy slide the group went down the cliff. Matthew continued running faster than before; the group had almost no chance of catching up. Suddenly Matthew stopped. A large mound of snow came up out of the ground showing a hole. At the bottom there was a strange dark purple root fitting the description of the Tunda Root; Matthew grabbed it and raised it above his head beaming. "I think I found it" Matthew cried out as he jogged over to the group. Everyone clapped their hands for Matthew's discovery and Mia tackled him with a hug. "Thank you so, so, so much" Mia was on the verge of tears. Matthew just smiled, partly for seeing Mia happy and partly for seeing Jenna get jealous. Sheba walked towards the hole that Matthew had made; everyone turned to look at her. Sheba stood completely still and then lost consciousness and fell to the ground. "What the?" Mia muttered before rushing to her side. Mia felt Sheba's pulse "She is still alive" Jenna let out a sigh of relief. After a few minutes of setting up camp the group put Sheba on a cot and began planning their next step. "So first off, what do we do with this?" Matthew asked as he held out the Tunda Root. "Oh I'll take that" As soon as the last word was said, the Tunda Root disappeared from Matthew's hand… and into a black glove; Mask's black glove! "Give that back right now" Ivan yelled at Mask. Although the Warriors of Vale (plus Matthew) couldn't see it, Mask was smirking. "Oh I don't think so" Mask screamed a war chant and a dark aura surrounded him. Instantaneously, Mask appeared behind Mia, and smashed into her neck with the butt of his blade. Mia plunged face first into the snow, instantly unconscious. The group was scattered almost instantly. Kraden ran for his life, too old to fight anymore, Ivan readied Tisiphone Edge. Jenna ran to Mia's unconscious body and Matthew thrust Ra's Vengeance at Mask. Mask leaned back and grabbed Matthew's hand and threw him into Ivan, **hard**. "Why are you doing this?" Jenna shouted stalling for time… but to no avail. Mask drew his black sword of death and with his great speed ran it into Jenna's shoulder; he then unleashed a burst of psyenergy from the blade, knocking out Jenna and sending her flying across the snowy field. Mask then fired a sphere of darkness at Ivan and Matthew who were slowly getting up; the blast knocked both of them out instantly. Mask smiled to himself until he felt an extremely powerful presence nearby and Mask knew just who it was: Sheba. "DON'T HURT MY FRIENDS" Sheba bellowed and without Lachesis' Rule sent an immeasurably powerful sphere of Jupiter Psyenergy at Mask. It sent him flying in the air. After the blast subsided, Mask used the Warp Psyenergy he had learned; he teleported back to Sheba who realized that she was far, **far** weaker than Mask. Pure terror gripped Sheba. Mask kicked Sheba in the stomach and she rolled about ten feet away. Sheba knew she had to defend herself against the Mask or else she would die. But, before she could block, Mask had already swung his sword across her forehead, giving her a deep head-wound. Sheba screamed in pain before feeling another slash across her stomach. Sheba quickly used her Psyenergy to push herself back a few feet and then she lost consciousness. Mask smiled; sensing that Sheba had lost consciousness he turned to leave, only to hear her rise again. Mask turned around and saw Sheba's body floating above the ground; her head was down so Mask couldn't see her face. Sheba's body, with her head still down, fired an extremely powerful blast of Psyenergy at Mask. Mask only barely dodged it and then looked at Sheba again. Slowly, she looked up. Sheba's eyes were now completely white, her purple scarf had been destroyed or discarded, her white robe's sleeves had been destroyed; the small amount of armor over her robe had fallen off. Her robe had stained with a small amount of blood and finally, her skin was extremely pale. "What are you?" Mask asked in his disturbing voice. In a voice that was **not** her own, Sheba's body replied "I am The Soul of the Anemos, as the last child of the Anemos, young Sheba **must** be protected" The Soul of the Anemos answered. The voice was older but still a woman's voice, it had a demanding sound too it; to almost anyone else it would have terrified them; but to Mask it simple made him want to defy it. He rushed The Soul, dodging her first blast and pushing her arm down in order to make the second strike hurt both of them. It launched both warriors high into the air. The Soul of the Anemos used the Hover Psyenergy to stay aloft. (A/N: The Anemos created the ability and The Soul of the Anemos has their power and they would have perfected the Psyenergy in my opinion; so The Soul does not need the Hover Pads or the Hover Gem) The Soul planned to just allow Mask to fall however he used his Warp Psyenergy to move around and stay in the air. First appearing behind The Soul; Mask brought a powerful strike down at The Soul's back launching her down. Then he appeared much lower and swung his sword in a similar manner to baseball; launching her into the slide of ice that Mia had created earlier. The Soul was bleeding in four places now: her back, her forehead, her stomach and her shoulder; luckily The Soul had created a shield of Jupiter Psyenergy around Sheba's body in order to protect her. The Soul unleashed a burst of energy destroying the slide she was in. Now her shield had grown around her entire body, showing only the outline of Sheba's body. The Soul raised a hand slowly and chanted in the Anemos language. Suddenly a powerful white beam of energy smashed into Mask, denting his armor ever so slightly. Mask used Warp again and appeared in front of The Soul. The Soul used her Psyenergy to create a sword of energy to counter Mask's physical sword. They stood even for a few minutes, locked in a stalemate. Mask let out another war chant and his dark aura increased tenfold. Within a moment his blade of darkness defeated The Soul's blade of energy and slashed her shoulder-making it bleed. The Soul of the Anemos, in revenge screamed "REVENGE OF THE ANEMOS" and launched it s strongest attack. A **massive **sphere blasted Mask to the end of the snowy field just in front of a tall mountain. The Soul floated down to Mask. "I grow tired of this; but I will give you the satisfaction to know that you have been the strongest opponent I've faced in months" Mask sheathed his sword and, although no one could see it, closed his eyes. "move" he said quietly. A **massive **Psyenergy hand appeared behind the mountain and began pushing it towards The Soul. The Soul quickly sprinted at Mask and grabbed the Tunda Root and sent it far off to the makeshift camp. Mask, annoyed used Warp to leave. The Soul looked up at the mountain coming at her and, knowing that it couldn't with stand that kind of physical attack charged all of its energy for a final blast of energy, hoping beyond hope to be able to destroy the mountain enough to let young Sheba live. The Soul unleashed its massive blast, eradicating much of the mountain which saved the Warriors of Vale and Matthew.

Isaac was worried about his next battle against the Champion of Suhalla. Isaac knew that the Champion was probably going to be stronger than Bloodbeast, and Bloodbeast had nearly killed Isaac. When Isaac awoke, he was in a pair of sleep pants, nothing else. Isaac saw that he was in an inn and figured the Great Healer must have put him there. Isaac walked, feeling much better, over to the washtub in the washroom. Isaac got the water started and then after a few minutes removed his pants and got in the tub. The water was nice and warm; it allowed Isaac a chance to relax before his next battle. Isaac eventually fell asleep in the tub. After an hour of sleep, Isaac awoke and realized that he was hungry and the water was cold. Isaac quickly got out and pulled on his sleep pants. After a few minutes of searching, the only shirt Isaac could find was a white shirt in a cabinet above the towel rack. He quickly put it on and then went downstairs. Isaac discovered it was dinner time so he ordered some. The innkeeper invited Isaac to eat with the other guests so Isaac, wanting to be polite, did. The dinner consisted of a large pig that the innkeeper baked and carved himself, a big bowl of mashed potatoes, several big rolls there were also burgers for kids and picky eaters. To drink you could have cheap wine, juice, beer, soda and cheap champagne. Isaac had a large portion of the pig, lots of the mashed potatoes, two burgers and four rolls. Isaac had two glasses of champagne and three glasses of juice. After he finished eating, the innkeeper's wife brought out a large cake. After all of dinner was over, Isaac went back up to his room to see his regular clothes on his bed washed and dried. Isaac also saw his Gaia Blade sheathed and washed. Isaac smiled and after retrieving his money from the Great Healer; took out his coin bag and paid the innkeeper a large sum of money for his exquisite service. Isaac mounted Phoenix and took off towards Suhalla. After a full day of riding Isaac arrived at Suhalla. The town generals greeted him hospitable and lead Isaac to the chosen battleground. When Isaac arrived he saw that it was on the top of a high cliff. Isaac smirked and walked over to the warrior he would be fighting. This warrior, unlike Bloodbeast, was chivalrous. His name was Thor and he had shoulder length blond hair and polished, shiny, silver armor. Thor also held a war hammer and short sword. After Isaac and Thor had assumed their positions the Suhalla general shouted "BEGIN."

Isaac and Thor charged at each other; Thor was considerable slower than Isaac; Isaac sprinted at Thor full speed, arriving quickly, Isaac swung low. Surprisingly, Thor jumped over the blade. Isaac continued sprinting and did a 180 mid-air and activated the Gaia Blade's strongest move: Titan Blade. A huge blade of Venus Psyenergy plunged into Thor's back and sent him into a newly created crater. Isaac muttered Cessation and sent three slightly smaller blades into Thor as well. Thor stood up slowly and raised his hammer above his head before smashing it down into the ground. As soon as the hammer touched the ground thunder and lightning boomed out of the sky and mere seconds later it began raining and a mighty wind picked up. Thor began swinging his hammer in an arc above his head slowly at first but then faster and faster. Slowly Thor was making an electrical tornado! When Thor thought he had made it large enough he launched it at Isaac who, because of the winds, was already at the edge of the cliff. Isaac, thinking quickly, used the Sand Psyenergy that Felix had taught him to quickly dodge the tornado. Thor thought that he had sent Isaac off the mountain and smiled to himself… until Isaac sent the stone that Thor was standing on high into the air allowing Thor to fall… hard. Then Isaac used more Venus psyenergy to send a "wave" of earth at Thor sending him off the cliff. Everyone at the battleground ran to the edge to see that Thor had landed on a small ledge. Without a moment's hesitation, Isaac leaped after Thor, the two meeting for a final bout. Isaac summoned Flint and bonded him to the Gaia Blade. Then he unleashed his attack knocking Thor off the ledge to his doom. Isaac, using his Venus Psyenergy, launched himself up the mountain.

One day later Mia awoke slowly. In front of her she could see tons and tons of snow, more than before. Quickly Mia scuffed through the snow to no avail; she couldn't find the Tunda Root. Mia walked over to their makeshift campsite and sat on the cot. She was just about to start crying when she realized that she had sat on something, Mia checked what she had sat on and saw the Tunda Root. Mia hollered in victory and then decided to look for the others. Mia looked around and saw a large amount of big rocks that she didn't remember seeing before. Mia hurried down to the rocks and saw that they got smaller and smaller until they were gone. Mia saw that the smallest rocks had almost formed a perfect circle. Mia thought that some strong psyenergy attack must have gone off there and she made her way to the center of the circle. Mia dug through the snow for a bit before she discovered a hand; a pale cold hand. Mia pulled on the deathly cold hand and heaved out Sheba's cold limp form. Mia felt tears forming in her eyes but ignored them, she had to make sure first. Mia felt an extremely faint heart beat, Mia poured as much of her psyenergy as possible but she couldn't stop the heart beat from getting softer. Mia grabbed Sheba's hand and began shouting "NO SHEBA! YOU CAN'T LEAVE US YOU MUSN'T! WE NEED YOU SHEBA! WE NEED YOU!" Mia continued to shout for ten minutes but to no avail. Sheba's heart beat was growing softer and softer, until it stopped.


	9. Hurt: Funeral for a Friend

I updated the Dramitis Personae to take out non-plot significant characters.

Disclaimer, I do not own Golden Sun, Camelot and Nintendo do.

_**Dramatis Personae**_

Isaac, Venus Adept, Not dating Jenna

Jenna, Mars Adept, Dating Matthew

Felix, Venus Adept,

Calsen, Venus Adept, Friend of Isaac (OC)

Mia, Mercury Adept,

Garet, Mars Adept

Sheba, Jupiter Adept

Matthew, Venus Adept (OC-Not Isaac and Jenna's son) and dating Jenna

Mask, Venus Adept

**Chapter 10,**_** Hurt**_**: Funeral for a Friend**

The camp was silent as Mia returned carrying Sheba's body. Jenna felt tears coming to her eyes; Ivan stared in shock at Sheba's body; Kraden hid his face and Matthew looked down in shame. Everyone felt that it was their fault. Dinner was silent and the next day as well. Matthew ended up becoming sick of the silence, so at lunch the next day he decided to speak up. "Guys, I… I know that an atrocity has happened, but we need to do something" Everyone looked at him a second and then turned their faces back to their meals. "Don't you think that Sheba at least deserves a decent funeral?" Matthew struck a nerve there. "We are** not **disrespecting our friend. We are mourning our friend's death! Why can't you respect that?" Mia nearly screamed at Matthew. "No Mia, Matthew is correct. We must return to New Vale and give Sheba the funeral she deserves" Kraden interjected softly. "But what about our mission? What about Garet if we stop for Sheba's funeral we may run out of time for Garet?" Mia cried out. Kraden thought for a moment before answering. "Matthew you do not know Sheba well correct?" After Matthew nodded Kraden continued. "Then I suggest that we send Matthew to Hesperia for the Gaylin Weed while we set up Sheba's funeral. Well speak up is that ok with everyone?" Kraden questioned. Everyone nodded so they quickly put away their gear and made the long journey to the ship. The group quickly set sail. Kraden quickly went to his bed chamber and took out his messenger pidgin. Kraden quickly scribbled down a note to New Vale saying:

Dear New Vale

_A member of our group has fallen, we will be returning soon with the body; please gather the Warriors of Vale for the funeral. Also, please make the necessary requirements for the funeral._

_Sincerely, Kraden._

After Kraden had attached the note to the leg of the pidgin he went up to the deck and released it. Kraden went to his room and for the first night in almost a week, slept very well. Meanwhile, Ivan was trying to keep the ship steady but was having trouble because of the strong waves. Ivan called out for Mia. He had hoped that she could calm the waves with her Mercury Psyenergy but she wasn't answering his calls. Sighing, Ivan figured it would be a long night. Matthew sat on his bed in his and Ivan's shared room. Getting bored, Matthew stood up and walked downstairs and began to explore the ship. Eventual Matthew arrived at the crystal powering the ship. Matthew walked to it and touched it, feeling its intense power. "Exploring are you?" Jenna teased with a smile. "Oh, just a little" Matthew returned, also with a smile. "Want some company?" Jenna asked. "Always" Matthew put his arm around Jenna and pulled her close. Jenna smiled and put her arms around Matthew's neck, pulling him closer. Jenna smiled and passionately kissed him.

Mia had finally beckoned to Ivan; after he woke her from her nap. Mia was angry and had half a mind to simply throw Ivan off the boat, but she didn't because that was who she was: the kind, quiet and shy one. Ivan had asked Mia to calm the waves with her psyenergy, so she did. After that, Ivan realized that the boat wouldn't fly so he asked Mia to check out the power room; again, Mia complied. Mia was a bit annoyed but managed to keep it under control. After a few minutes of walking she made it to the power chamber. Mia thought she heard a loud moan and so she stuck her head in; what Mia saw shocked her. She saw Matthew, shirtless, passionately kissing Jenna. "AHEM" Mia coughed loudly. Both Matthew and Jenna turned and looked at Mia; both were obviously embarrassed. Mia walked over to the discarded shirt and picked it up. "Leave. **NOW**" Mia demanded. Jenna and Matthew nodded their heads and ran to his shirt and then out the room. Mia put her hand to her face and shook her head. Mia put the crystal back in its correct place and then walked up to her room. "What am I going to do with them?" Mia asked herself before going to sleep.

The next morning the group had made it to the closest dock to New Vale. After a quick goodbye Matthew paid for a boat ride to Hesperia. Jenna, Mai, Kraden and Ivan acquired the casket the Valeans had sent and put Sheba's body in it. They hired a wagon to take them to New Vale and slowly, sadly rode to New Vale. A thunderstorm began on the way there. It was raining harder than Mia had ever seen. The thunder was deafening; the lightning was a massive explosion of light. The winds were like hurricanes and the sadness was like a tsunami. When the group finally arrived at New Vale they were all soaking wet. Jenna and Mia walked into Jenna's house and went to Jenna's room. When they got there, they looked at each other for a moment and then they looked at the third bed: Sheba's bed. Then the tears flowed freely. The girls held each other and just sat there and cried. After a long time, Jenna had fallen asleep; she still had tears on her cheek. Mia took a blanket and put it on Jenna. Then she left Jenna's house and walked down to Garet's house. She knocked softly and she heard a faint "come in" so she did. Mia went straight to Garet's room. She saw him lying there, Mia thought he looked a little better but then looks are deceiving. The thunder boomed but Mia didn't even flinch, the sadness was still there, but now she had Garet; his aura of protection keeping Mia from tearing up. Mia saw him shuffle in his sleep. With his presence guarding her, Mia drifted to sleep.

Garet awoke the next morning and noticed something against him. He looked over and there he saw, in the flesh, his love: Mia. Garet instantly smiled, having come to expect and ignore the pain. In actuality however, the pain had only increased, dramatically so. "Hey, wake up" Garet said softly. Mia's head rose up. Garet saw dried on her cheeks; then Garet remembered the letter his mother told him about. "Mia who is it that died" Garet asked quietly and worriedly. Tears came to Mia's eyes again "Sheba" Mia said extremely softly. Garet closed his eyes. He wasn't terribly upset because he and Sheba had little interaction, but it was still sad to know that a comrade had fallen, it also hurt to see Mia like this. "I'm so sorry Mia" Garet offered. "I already miss her" Mia plunged her head against Garet's shoulder, tears flowing down her face. "It will be ok Mia" Garet was just trying to get her to stop crying, he had no idea what else to say. So he just held her close. After a while, Mia stopped crying. She told Garet bye and weakly walked to Jenna's house. She borrowed some clothes from Jenna and quickly changed. Then Mia went to the Mayor, Garet's grandfather. After inquiring about Sheba's funeral, she learned that it was to be held the next day; the mayor also wanted to know if Mia wanted to say anything. Mia nodded her head and said that she would say a few words. The mayor thanked her and then Mia left. She grabbed a quick lunch and then went to Jenna's house to talk for a while. After a day of playing and chilling; the girls went to sleep.

Isaac knew he was bleeding, he also knew that if he diverted his attention for even a second he would be dead. Isaac barely dodged his opponents' attacks although occasionally he wouldn't and he would bleed. Isaac's opponent was the Champion of Lalivero; a man named Rider. Rider bore shoulder length jet black hair, he had a full beard as well. He had dark brown armor with a green trim. Rider used katana and had created a Psyenergy technique that split him into three people. All three continually came at him. Isaac could dodge and block two blows but three? He just didn't have enough arms; So Isaac was just stuck, bleeding out slowly. Isaac screamed in frustration. "THAT IS IT! NO MORE MESSING AROUND" Isaac bellowed. Quickly, Isaac dodged the coming sword and used the earth to launch himself into the air. Isaac called down the Titan Blade; it went straight into the First Rider. As Isaac landed he sent out an extremely powerful earthquake, sending the Second Rider far back. Isaac turned around and faced the Third Rider. The Third Rider glowed for a moment; Isaac saw in his peripheral vision the bodies of the First and Second Riders disappear. Isaac charged Rider, Gaia Blade in hand. Isaac ducked and then swung upward, slicing Rider's throat. Isaac stood over the bloody body for a moment before walking away. Isaac was about to leave the battlefield when he heard a loud sound like someone gathering up psyenergy for a massive attack. Isaac turned around and saw an aura of psyenergy around Rider. Slowly, Rider stood. Rider absorbed his aura, and then unleashed it like a bomb. Waves of black psyenergy rolled out of him, hitting Isaac. Isaac staggered back, momentarily blinded and stunned. When Isaac looked again, Rider had transformed: He had two blood red demon wings, dark red armor, and golden tubes going from his ribs to his triceps, a blood red helmet and a large eye on each shoulder (If you want a better visual look up Doma the Angel of Silence yugioh card Rider looks like him except no angel wings). Rider also had a large staff with a sharp crescent moon blade at the top. Despite his new demonic look, what scared Isaac the most was Rider's eyes. They glowed blood red, had no pupils or cornea, they simply glowed blood red; Isaac could actually see blood fall from them. In a new, more ominous and cryptic voice, Rider spoke: "I am no longer Rider, I am Haunt" Haunt raised his staff above his head and cried out in a foreign language. Suddenly, the dark sky let out a blast of lightning, **black lightning**. The lightning struck Haunt's staff, the staff then acquired a black aura. "By the darkness in me, DIE" screamed Haunt. Isaac leaped to dodge, narrowly missing the explosion of darkness. Isaac looked at the unleashed carnage in terror. The black sphere of darkness was still there, and it was unleashing an unhealthy amount of undead, skeletons and just general demonic creatures. Isaac's attention was split, and he didn't see the second ball of darkness that was sent at him and engulfed him. Instantaneously Isaac was in a dark black room, the only visible figures were white ghost and spirits… which were attacking him. Then Isaac saw Haunt, if possible, he looked even more demonic. "Welcome to my realm" Haunt then let out the classic "evil villain" laugh ("") Isaac, looking for a way to survive, charged the ghosts and spirits; slicing and dicing, slashing and thrusting, Isaac was plowing through them... until Haunt raised his crescent staff again. He swung it in an arc above his head before slamming it down on floor, blade side down. Isaac saw the quake of darkness being sent at him and quickly ran out of the way. When the quake reached where Isaac had stood, a large hand reached out and grabbed the floor and pulled itself out of the ground. The creature was giant. It stood ten feet tall and had a mace as one arm. IT had an executioners' garb, with black leather around his chest and part of his legs; the creature also had a silver helmet around the head, blocking Isaac from seeing its eyes. It roared and charged Isaac, with its mace-hand, it swung at Isaac's chest, with its' other hand it sent out a blast of dark fire. Isaac tried to jump over the mace, but Haunt appeared and hit Isaac into the mace. The attack tore out ligaments, small pieces of bone, skin, tissue and blood; **lots **of blood. Isaac laid on the floor, bleeding and nearly helpless; with little strength, Isaac sent out his Djinn to attack the Giant creature. The creature with its non-mace hand stopped the Djinn with a wall of evil fire. Although the attack itself failed, it allowed Isaac enough time to use his trump card: Judgment. Judgment's attack obliterated the creature, but Haunt raised a shield up so he wasn't damage as much as his pet creature. Haunt walked over to Isaac's body, content that Isaac would die and that he had won. Haunt smiled a dark and evil smile before plunging his crescent staff into Isaac. Haunt opened a portal and began to walk out of his realm when he heard something. Isaac had stood up. Haunt was in shock, he had seen Isaac dying, bleeding massive amounts of blood and have a large part of the skin of his back torn out. Haunt simply didn't know how Isaac could possibly stand after all he had been through, yet here he was facing him, with a golden glow in his eyes. Now it was Haunt's turn to feel fear. Isaac walked with growing fury, and power, Isaac quickly sprinted at Haunt before the portal could be closed, but he didn't know if he would make: it would be close.

The next few minutes could only be described accurately by a man in the audience who had the best seat: Ralphy. Ralphy had seen the first bit of the fight, the only part he hadn't seen was the fight in Haunt's realm. Ralphy had figured that Isaac had died (which shocked him) but stayed to be sure. After Isaac had been sent to Haunt's realm, Haunt had followed him into the darkness. Now Ralphy didn't think of himself as a genius but prided himself as a learned man (A/N: he isn't) so he assumed if you killed an enemy you wouldn't walk into the thing that had killed him. (A/N: he has his moments) So here Ralphy was waiting for someone to exit the darkness. Suddenly, the darkness got much brighter, then, a giant sphere of golden light exploded from the sphere of darkness. Ralphy saw Haunt sprawling on the ground, weak and coughing. Ralphy could just barely see the outline of a figure in the golden sphere of light. Ralphy was shocked however, to see Haunt rise from his place and float above the ground again. Ralphy then saw Haunt unleash his strongest attack; Ralphy also heard him scream "I AM DONE ISAAC YOU WILL DIE FROM MY ULTIMATE ATTACK: FINAL SILENCE" Ralphy guessed the name of the attack was you will die (A/N: he is wrong). Ralphy watched as a magnificent ball of grey energy was raised above Haunt. "DIE" Ralphy heard Haunt scream. The Final Silence was sent right into the ball of golden light but it seemed to only make the light stronger, in fact the light was becoming as bright as the sun, maybe even brighter. When the ball of grey energy was completely inside the ball of Light, it was set off, like a bomb. The blast engulfed Ralphy, completely wiping him from the face of the earth.

_So this is the full power of the Golden Sun? Interesting, he could prove a challenge for the master ha-ha_ Haunt thought as he realized that he couldn't win. Haunt watched as Isaac brought his sword down, sending the Golden Sun right at Haunt. Haunt smiled as he felt his soul leave this vessel and return to the master. Isaac fell to his knees, exhaustion winning him over. When Haunt had smashed him into the mace, Isaac was sure that his life was over. Yet, when he finally saw the white light, a Golden light completely rejuvenated him. It re-grew his skin, cartilage, bone, and everything else knocked out of him by the attack. Isaac had felt strong enough to take on the Dullahan ten times and still win all on his own. Then Isaac had opened his eyes and saw the Golden energy around him, Isaac finally realized what Alex had meant at Colosso. "The power of the Golden Sun is within me" Isaac saw quietly to himself. Isaac smirked. He knew that with this kind of power, nothing could stand in his way. Isaac walked over to the remaining ashes and kicked them. Suddenly, Isaac fell on the ground, the Golden Sun's power left him, and Isaac felt weaker than he had in a long time. A nap sounded quite nice to him so he closed his eyes and went to sleep. Luckily for Isaac, some spectators had returned when they saw the Golden Sun, they saw Isaac lying on the ground alive and brought him back to town to heal him.

Matthew trudged through the murky ground in Hesperia. He was angered, annoyed and mildly upset. Matthew was angered because he had been forced on this mission. He was annoyed because he had to go alone. Matthew was upset because he knew he wouldn't complain. Matthew knew he was doing this for one of Jenna's friends; and Matthew knew he would do anything for Jenna. So here he was, trudging through the wet murky lands of Hesperia. It didn't take Matthew long to discover the giant lake. Before Matthew dove in, he created a hollow rock jar filled with air. Then Matthew jumped in to the lake. After two hours of searching, Matthew found it, the Gaylin Weed in all its' glory. Matthew beamed at finding it and quickly gathered it up before returning to the surface and the rented boat. Matthew, soaking wet began the journey to New Vale.

After a good couple days of rest, Isaac had received a letter from Garet saying that a Warrior of Vale had died and that the funeral was happening soon. So Isaac, after paying the Great Healer, quickly returned to New Vale hoping he had made it in time. Isaac gathered Phoenix and rode as fast as he could home. Isaac was worried about who had died, the letter hadn't said. Isaac just knew it couldn't be Jenna, he would have known if it was her. Isaac rationalized that Garet would have said it was Mia if Mia had died. So that meant it was Ivan, Sheba or Kraden. In all honesty, Isaac hoped it was Kraden, mostly because Kraden was far older than the other two. Isaac rode all day and all night and was quite relieved to see New Vale after having had such a long journey. Isaac rode to his house; when Isaac saw his parents he gave his mother a peck on the cheek and gave his father a hug. Isaac then went to his room, bathed himself and then quickly went to Garet's house. When Isaac opened the door he was went straight up the stairs and into Garet's room. He saw Garet asleep on his bed and Mia sitting on a chair. Mia turned as she had heard Isaac coming up the stairs. A temporary awkward silence ensued. Isaac decided to break it first. "Hi" he offered simply. Mia deciding to be cordial replied with an equally talkative comment "hello" "How is he doing" Isaac asked. Mia sighed before answering. "He says he is doing better but I he's lying and has simply gotten used to the pain. Here look" Mia pulled Garet's covers down from his neck and Isaac saw how bad his injuries were. His skin still hadn't completely grown back, he mostly had underdeveloped skin, the thing about it though was that the skin had a deathly darkness growing, it was like a disease that couldn't be stopped. "Mia is there anything I can do?" Isaac asked since he had finished his duties to Tolbi. "Well I would say help us get the final ingredient for the cure but I don't think you could get along with Jenna and our new recruit" Mia said casually. "New recruit who is it?" Isaac asked quickly. "You remember Matthew that guy you faced in the finals?" Mia asked. "Yeah, but why wouldn't I get along with him? He was kind and cool" Isaac asked, clearly confused. "Why don't you ask Jenna?" Mia suggested. "No why don't you just tell me now?" Isaac retorted. "Because you need to ask Jenna, **not** me" Mia said loudly. "Why should I ask Jenna why won't you tell me" Isaac asked, also getting louder. "You're impossible, why won't you listen to me?" Mia was annoyed now. Isaac, realizing that (A) they almost woke up Garet and (B) that he should probably listen to Mia and not get any other close friends angry at him. "Mia I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been a jerk" Isaac said while looking at the floor. When Mia didn't reply Isaac went back to the stairs. Just before he was out of sight, he heard Mia say "I forgive you" Isaac said thank you and then left Garet's house. Isaac, unsure of how to seek out Jenna, ultimately decided to find Ivan, since he had know him for a while, he thought Ivan would still like him. Isaac knocked at Ivan's Inn room door and was quickly greeted by a "come in" When Isaac walked in he was amazed to see that scrolls, books, letters and just random pages covered almost everything in the room except two chairs, some of the floor and some of the bed. Ivan himself had his head in a book, and was eating a small bowl of noodles. "Ivan" Isaac said a bit loud to make sure Ivan could hear him. Instead, Ivan raised one hand without looking up from his book. After a minute Ivan took out a pen and wrote something down, then he out down his book and turned to look at Isaac. "Isaac?" Ivan questioned with surprise and joy. "Hello Ivan" Isaac replied with a smile. This seemed to snap Ivan out of his weird look. "How have you been?" Ivan asked. "Pretty well, nearly got killed twice you know just the usual, what about you? How is your adventure going?" Isaac asked. "Well, we got two of the ingredients and Matthew's getting the third, but Sheba was killed so… it isn't the greatest but, its going" Ivan said slowly and sadly. _So that's who was killed! Well that sucks but, I wasn't that close to her really…_ "Ivan can you tell me where Jenna is?" Ivan thought for a second before he answered, "She is probably in her room. She was really upset about what happened to Sheba…" Ivan looked down and sniffled a bit. "Um thank you Ivan, I'll see you later" Isaac said, slightly warily. Isaac hurried to Jenna's house, but to no avail, she wasn't there, only an angry Felix who, literally, kicked Isaac's butt and threatened to do more if he **ever** came back. Isaac thought of where Jenna liked to go to be alone. Isaac remembered the bridge that he had met her at for the Declaration of New Vale. After a quick jog, he saw Jenna there, not on the bridge, but on the shore near the pond. Isaac walked over to her "Jenna?" Isaac asked. Jenna didn't turn around or do anything at all, she ignored him. Isaac grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her "Jenna" Isaac said loudly. She still didn't do anything. Jenna was trying to keep her cool. Isaac then did the unexpected; he kissed her, only because she wouldn't do anything else. As soon as the kiss broke off, Jenna slapped him hard. "GET AWAY FROM ME" Jenna pushed Isaac away. Jenna began to walk away but only made it to the bridge before Isaac stopped her again. "Wait Jenna, we **have** to talk" Isaac pleaded. "Talk about this" Jenna kneed him right in the crotch, Isaac stood there for a moment completely stunned. Jenna watched the look of utter pain on her face and tried to hold in her smile. "That, was, un, called for" Isaac said between breathes. "No this is uncalled for" Jenna punched him in the face. Isaac was sent through the bridge's railing and into the pond. Jenna promptly walked away, smiling to herself. Isaac lay there, in the pond floating, for a good five minutes before slowly, agonizingly slowly, making his way to the shore where laid down for ten minutes. "I guess she really didn't want to talk to me"

Jenna went back up to her room, and saw Felix there, it seemed as though he was waiting for her. "Jenna" Felix stood and glared, Kraden dropped that you have a new boyfriend. Who is it?" Jenna could tell that Felix was pretty angry so she was careful before answering. "The contestant who fought Isaac in the finals of Colosso, he also saved my life (A/N: I am referring to when they fought the Guardian). Felix was silently glaring and then with a stubborn sigh walked out of Jenna's room. Jenna noticed that he was limping. _Strange, there isn't anyone who could really challenge him, except maybe Isaac, but Garet told me that Isaac went on some kind of adventure Oh well. _Jenna was curious but decided now wasn't the time to ask. Jenna was tired so she took a quick shower and then went to sleep. The next day was the day before the funeral for Sheba. After waking up sourly, Jenna put on some new clothes and went to the graveyard managers. She affirmed that they had put Sheba in new formal clothes and had prepared a coffin and gravesite for her. After being sure that everything was ready for the funeral, she went to Garet's knowing that Mia would be there. Jenna quickly arrived there and went up the stairs. She saw Mia, lying in the bed with Garet with a content look on her face. Mia slowly opened her eyes and smiled, seeing your best friend in the hold world does that to a person, well actually second best friend only because of Garet though. "Hi Jenna, what are you doing here?" Mia sweetly asked. "I wanted to talk to you… about Isaac…" Jenna was looking at Garet, she didn't have anything against him, it was just that Garet was the only one on Isaac's side instead of hers. Sure some people (like Mia) were polite to Isaac but they didn't think Jenna did anything wrong. (In actuality Garet thinks that she over reacted and that Isaac shouldn't have even hung out with Calsen that much, but he keeps that to himself) Mia caught what Jenna was saying so she motioned for Jenna to follow her downstairs to the room Garet's mother had made for her in case she ever wanted her own bed. When they arrived Mia sat on her bed and looked up at Jenna. "What about Isaac?" Mia asked. "I saw him today" Jenna said. Mia nodded so Jenna continued talking: "I tried to ignore him, but then he kissed me so I slapped him and walked away. Then he stopped me at the bridge and asked me to talk with him, so I kicked him in the crotch. Then he had the **nerve** to say that it was uncalled for so I punched him really hard and he fell into the pond. I hate him he has just made my life miserable" Jenna let sigh of anger and put her head to her hands. "There, there sweetie it will be ok, remember Matthew, you have a better guy now" Mia didn't exactly believe her words, but she knew that this is what she needed to say to make Jenna feel better. "Thanks Mia you're so kind to me, unlike Isaac" Jenna wanted to spit at the name. "Jenna dear, why don't you spend the night here?" it will be fun we can have a sleep over, what do you say?" Mia was tired and thought some girl time would be nice. "Yeah that does sound fun" Jenna smiled. So, after getting a sleeping bag from her house, Jenna set it up on the floor of Mia's room. They played games for a bit, then ate and then talked. When it became midnight, the girls decided to go to sleep.

Matthew was sweaty, stinky, exhausted, annoyed and sad all at once. He had finally arrived back in Angara, only to learn he had a long walk to New Vale. So, here he was, walking all day and all night, just for his girl. Matthew knew he wasn't going to complain to her, he knew he wasn't going to stop walking. Matthew had finally learned that he was very close to Vault which was the nearest town to New Vale, so he was beginning to think he would wash up and stay at Vault for the night and then head to New Vale in the morning. After finally making it into town, Matthew went straight to the Inn. He paid for his room and quickly went to wash up. Matthew took three baths before he was clean. After his baths, Matthew went straight to bed and quickly fell asleep. In his dream, Matthew was back in Tundaria, before him was Mask. Mask somehow looked more evil and demonic than ever before. "You will fall, Matthew" Mask said ominously. Matthew began cowering in fear, knowing he couldn't even lay a finger on Mask. Then, Matthew saw Jenna. She was being held by Mask, a sword to her throat. 'You will be powerless to stop me, and powerless to save the ones you love" Mask prophesied. "I will destroy you an-" Mask stopped midsentence when he felt Ra's Vengeance in his armor. Matthew would **not** let anyone hurt Jenna. Thrust, parry, block, thrust, flip dodge, duck and swing; Matthew did all this in his battle. He felt Mask's blade of death inches from his neck. Matthew saw his blade, slicing Mask. Matthew felt like he might actually win! Matthew swung high and diagonally, but Mask simply raised his blade to block the attack. Mask then swung his blade and sliced Matthew's arm in half. Matthew however, ignored the pain and swung up with all his might; he resulted in slicing off Mask's arm. "This has been fun, but now you shall die" Mask warped back several feet, and then raised his sword above his head. Mask swung his blade down and sent out a shockwave of darkness right into Matthew. Matthew crashed into a wall of rocks, temporarily paralyzed. Mask then walked over to Jenna and raised his blade. Before he struck, Mask looked at Matthew again and said the most cryptic words Matthew had ever heard: "**There is nothing you can do to stop me**" Mask swung his sword down and Matthew woke up. Matthew sat up quickly in his bed, he was sweating. Matthew looked out the window and looked at the sun. "It was just a dream" Matthew said quietly to himself. Matthew noted the position of the sun and, realizing the time, quickly hurried to get go to New Vale.

Jenna awoke from her loving dream and sat up. She remembered that today was the funeral so she quietly and quickly walked to the washroom. When she arrived, she drew water and took a quick bath. After her bath, Jenna dried herself off and quickly walked back to Mia's room and tried to open the door only to discover that it was locked. Jenna decided to brush her teeth while she waited for Mia to finish doing whatever it was that she was doing. After she was done brushing her teeth, Jenna walked back to Mia's room only to see that it was still locked, sighing, Jenna leaned against Mia's door. Unknown to Jenna, Isaac had arrived early at Garet's house to help Garet get ready for the funeral. Isaac had been quite because he didn't want to wake anyone up. Isaac walked down the hall, connecting to the stairs to Garet's room. Isaac saw Jenna, clad only in a small towel leaning against a door in the hall.. Isaac eyes nearly fell out of his head, Isaac quietly exclaimed "what?" Jenna hearing this turned around and saw Isaac standing there. Jenna wondered what Isaac was doing there, but, at that moment, Mia opened the door. Somehow, Jenna's towel had gotten hooked to the handle of the door, and when Mia opened the door, it pulled Jenna's towel off. Jenna quickly did her best to cover herself up and blushed a color that would put apples to shame. Isaac reflexively closed his eyes and turned around seeing nothing but the color on Jenna's face. Jenna was immensely glad that Isaac still had some manners and ran into Mia's room and slammed the door shut. Isaac hearing the door slam shut opened his eyes and walked up the stairs to Garet's room still laughing to himself.

Jenna was beginning to regret the fact that she had told Mia what happened. Mia was still laughing when Jenna left the house. Half an hour after the episode with Isaac, Jenna had left Mia's house to get ready for the funeral. Jenna, for one of the only times in her entire life, wore her hair down, it fell to just below her shoulders. Jenna was wearing a black dress, with straps. Jenna had put on lip stick and a little make-up. Jenna had combed her hair so that it was nice and straight. Jenna put on finger nail polish and toe-nail polish. Jenna looked herself in the mirror, content she left her room and walked to the courtyard for the funeral. The sky had dark clouds, thunder would boom loudly and the lightning was brighter than usual, as if Jupiter itself was lamenting for the last of the Anemos. As soon as Jenna took a step under the pavilion, the downpour began. There was rain and hail; it was raining harder than Jenna had ever seen. It made the sadness in the air all the sadder. Jenna sat in her chair on the front row, next to Felix. When she saw Mia motioned for her to sit with her. Jenna also noticed Isaac sitting on the closest seat to the middle, next to him sat Garet in a wheelchair. Next to Felix sat Karst, then Piers. On Isaac's right sat Ivan and to Ivan's right was Kraden. Behind them sat most of the town along with the parents of the Warriors of Vale. Jenna watched as the Great Healer walked up to the podium at the head of the pavilion. He began his speech with a quote of the legendary Wise One: "be grateful that some lived, for the only thing worse than a friend dying, is two friends dying" (A/N: I know he never said this in game, but I would assume that there are legends about him) The Great Healer puffed up his chest and stood as tall as he could. "I myself did not know young Sheba, but what I know of her, must be admired. She was young, raised in Lalivero. She loved her friends and foster father. Sheba was miss-fortunate enough to be forced to journey with Saturous and Menardi, lucky for her though, Felix was there like a older brother to protect and care for her" The Great Healer stopped for a moment to take a sip of water. "Sheba became a powerful warrior, willing to do anything for her friends, in the end it was only through her protection that Jenna, Mia, Ivan, and Kraden survived. (A/N: no one knows Matthew so they don't mention him) Sheba, barely knew any of us, but was willing to sacrifice her time and efforts to help us survive. We owe our town to Sheba. So let us not lament her death, but celebrate her life" The Great Healer concluded his speech and the town clapped their hands in celebration. After the clapping died down, Kraden stood and walked to the podium. "We would now like to invite anyone who wants to say a few words about Sheba to come and say them now" Kraden went back to his seat and sat. Jenna stood first, she recounted a few happy memories of Sheba and then went back to her seat. Isaac went next, then Mia, then Ivan, then Garet, (who wheeled his chair around instead of walking to the podium) then Ivan, then Piers. Then surprisingly, Karst stood up and spoke about how Sheba was actually a tough opponent. Then finally, Felix stood and walked up to the poem. "Hello, first I want to thank you all for coming, it means a lot to the Warriors of Vale and it especially means a lot to me. I remember sitting at a campfire back when we were with Menardi. Menardi had grown angry at me and was going to beat me, but Sheba walked over to Menardi, and tugged on her arm. Sheba said "Miss Menardi please don't hurt Felix" As soon as those words came out of her mouth, I knew I would do anything to protect her because I knew she would do anything to protect me" Felix looked down for a moment and squashed the tears out of his eyes; after a moment he took out a scroll and continued. "It is now time for the reading of the will. Sheba's will states that she leaves her house to me and Karst for us to start a family. She leaves 2,000 coins and her furniture to Jenna so that Jenna can remodel and take over my (Felix's) room. She leaves half her books to Kraden and the other half to Ivan because they both love books. Sheba leaves Atropos' Rod to Mia as Mia is the only other person who can use it. Sheba leaves her remaining money to Piers, in order to fund his sailing. To Garet she leaves this ring and this note, and finally to Isaac she leaves this dagger. Once again thank you for coming. If you are friends or family you can walk with us to the graveyard for the burial" Felix finished and walked over to Karst and gave her a long hug. Jenna thought she saw a tear in his eye. Jenna herself had wept throughout the entire service. After Felix and Karst stopped hugging, Jenna went to her big brother and cried into his shoulder. Meanwhile, Garet was reading the note Sheba had left to him. It read: "Dear Garet, if you are reading this than I'm dead. The ring you our holding is the only possession that I had when I fell from the sky. I was going to give it to Isaac but he and Jenna broke up, I have seen the way that you look at Mia and I want you to propose to her with this ring. That way, I can be with my friends forever (A/N: she doesn't mean Garet and Mia specifically, she means all the Warriors of Vale and I'm going to say that Sheba regularly updates her will). Garet was touched, and felt a tear work its way up to his eyes. Garet looked at the ring and saw that it was solid Orihalcon, inscribed in the ring were words in the ancient language. After admiring the ring, Garet stuffed the ring in his pocket, not yet sure what to do with it. The Warriors of Vale waited for the crowd to disperse before walking with the body to the graveyard. The group surrounded the hole dug for the coffin; everyone was felt the sadness. Slowly, the grave keepers descended the body into the hole. The Warriors of Vale dropped flowers into the casket, and then with a tear-filled goodbye, watched it close. The Warriors stood there for a moment, it was all sinking in. Sheba was dead and they would never see her again. The girls cried their hearts out and the men also tear-ed up. Felix silently sulked, but remained otherwise emotionless. After an hour of sulking in the rain, the group began to walk back to their homes. When they reached the pavilion, Isaac stopped Jenna to talk to her. "Jenna I really need to talk to you, I want you to know my perspective" Isaac tried to explain. "I don't need to know your perspective" at the word "perspective" Jenna used her fingers to make air quotes. "Yes you do, because if you know my perspective you'll know that I didn't do anything wrong" At that, Jenna slapped him. "Isaac when your dating a girl you can't go kissing another girl, it's just wrong" "That isn't what happened, why won't you listen to me?" Isaac growled in frustration. "Because it hurts to see a guy you love kiss another girl" Jenna screamed. "Wait, you loved me?" Isaac had a blank look on his face, and was in shock. Jenna blushed red again, and said feebly, "Isaac please, just leave me alone" Isaac, snapped out of his shock then. "I can't Jenna" "and why not?" Jenna was getting angry again. "Because I love you too" Now it was Jenna's turn to be in shock, luckily she got out of it faster than Isaac. "Well it's too late, you had your chance and you blew it so just leave me alone" Jenna turned away and began to leave but Isaac grabbed her arm. "I can't Jenna, I love you and I **know** that we're meant to be together" Isaac was adamant. "She said to leave her alone" a voice cried out. "This doesn't concern you" Isaac retorted. "Yes it does" Jenna looked to where the voice came from and saw Matthew, standing with a hand on his hilt. "Matthew, what does this have to do with you?" Isaac looked at Jenna and saw her blushing. "Wait a second, you and him? Seriously? We just broke up" Isaac put two and two together. "Yes, now would you be kind enough to let go of her" Matthew politely asked. "Isaac took a step back and let go; but at the same time Isaac used his Venus Psyenergy to throw a large rock at Matthew. In one fluid motion, Matthew drew Ra's Vengeance and cut the rock in two! Matthew held his hand high and with Venus Psyenergy, launched the ground beneath Isaac's feet into the air with Isaac still on it. Isaac jumped off the flying ground, and drew the Gaia Blade. Isaac swung his sword in front of him, and brought it down onto Ra's Vengeance. Before something critical happened, Matthew sent the Gaylin Weed to Jenna via Venus Psyenergy. Then Matthew got serious. He did a quick back flip, and readied himself for a powerful psyenergy attack. Matthew unleashed a wave of earth at Isaac. However, Isaac had used the Sand Psyenergy to dodge the attack. Isaac then summoned three large boulders and threw them at Matthew. Matthew dodged the first, destroyed the second and then jumped onto the third. Matthew commanded the boulder to return to Isaac. The boulder speed up and went straight to Isaac. With a strategic slice of his sword, Isaac destroyed the boulder only to receive a kick to the face. Matthew had jumped off the boulder at the last second and smashed his boot into Isaac's face, sending Isaac to the ground. Isaac jumped to his feet and gritted his teeth; then he summoned Flint to the Gaia Blade. Isaac swung at Matthew's sword arm and succeeded in drawing blood. Matthew let out a curse of pain but continued to fight. The two seemed to be at a stale mate. If Matthew attacked Isaac blocked, if Isaac attacked Matthew could block it. This continued to happen for ten minutes. The duel had taken them to the small cliff where the Warriors of Vale had eaten long ago. (Chapter One) Matthew, tired of fighting, charged Isaac and knocked him of the cliff. Isaac rolled for a bit before jumping to his feet. "Alright Isaac, I've had enough of this, I'm ending it now" Matthew raised Ra's Vengeance above his head and shouted out "BANE OF APOPHIS" a giant Golden Eagle erupted from the blade, it flew a circle around Matthew before flying towards Isaac. With the Gaia Blade in his hand, Isaac raised it above his head and bellowed over the sound of the Eagle "TITAN BLADE" As Isaac brought down his sword, the massive Titan Blade came, seemingly out of nowhere and sank right into the golden eagle, pinning the eagle to the ground just in front of the cliff. The eagle let out a massive cry of pain and then exploded, along with the Titan blade. Sending Isaac and Matthew flying back in opposite directions.

Isaac was the first to stand up, albeit still groggy and weak. Slowly Matthew stood too. A crowd had gathered at the sight of the explosion, Isaac could just barely pick out Jenna's head near the front of the crowd. Isaac then looked at the cliff, he could see Matthew rising, sword drawn. Isaac and Matthew looked each other in the eye and with a silent agreement, sprinted at each other full speed and swords drawn. Both were going to slash for the heart. As they approached target range, both closed their eyes and swung hoping for the best. Oddly, neither felt there blade connect. Both earth adepts opened their eyes to see Felix grasping the swords at the hilt. Felix threw Isaac and Matthew at each other, both crashed and hurt knocked their heads against each other. Both rubbed their heads and then looked at Felix, before they could ask their questions, they each received a blow to the face via Felix's fists. On the ground soaked in mud, both looked at Felix questioningly, expecting an answer and boy did they got one. "You idiots, you could have destroyed New Vale, and can't you see that your making Jenna feel worse. Isaac-she said to leave her alone, so leave her alone" Isaac began to get up, thinking that his portion of the rant was over; he was wrong. As Isaac was getting up, Felix punched him extremely hard in the stomach, making Isaac fall to the ground. "I'm not done with you so stay there and listen. AND YOU, you think that you can come in and take my sister before even meeting me? At least Isaac had the dignity have known me for years. NOW GET OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW" Felix was screaming at the top of his lungs now. "AND YOU ISAAC, YOU PROMISED HER THAT YOU WOULD NEVER HURT HER AND WHAT DI YOU DO? YOU BROKE HER HEART THREW IT ON THE FLOOR AND STOMPED ON IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN" When Felix said "stomped" he began kicking Isaac in the stomach. Isaac lay there, repeatable getting kicked in the stomach, he decided to do something about it. When Felix's foot came down again, Isaac grabbed it and pulled it forward. Felix fell on his back in the mud. When Felix stood up again Isaac punched him in the face and angrily walked away into the downpour towards his parent's home.

Awhile after being berated by Felix, Matthew found Jenna looking at the pond she had pushed Isaac into. "Are you ok?" Matthew asked. "I should be asking you that" Jenna remarked. Matthew chuckled before lightly turning her head towards him and kissing her. After the kiss Jenna smiled, but Matthew could tell it was fake. "Jenna what's wrong? And I know it's not nothing" Matthew pleaded. "I used to be best friends with Isaac when we were kids, then we started dating and now this happened, I wish we could be friends again" Jenna admitted. Matthew gave Jenna a hug and held her close for a moment. "It's going be ok Jenna" Matthew told her. "Hey follow me" Matthew led her by the hand to a bench nearby. Matthew kissed her and Jenna decided that she wanted a break from sulking. Ten minutes later Matthew and Jenna were locked in a passionate kiss. After a while of this, Jenna stopped and blushing deeply, got up. "I'll talk to you later Matthew" With that Jenna walked away. Matthew wondered why he loved her so much. Jenna quickly made her way to Ivan's house, she had asked him earlier to read Isaac's mind to see if what he said was true. After a few minutes of walking she reached the inn and knocked on Ivan's door. The Mars Adept heard a faint "come in" so she opened the door and walked in. She saw Ivan, covered in books. Literally, a bookshelf had fallen over and trapped Ivan under his huge pile of books. Jenna laughed out loud and then helped him out of the books. "So Ivan have you read Isaac's mind yet?" Jenna asked. "Yeah, from what I read, he was talking to Calsen and then she kissed him. Apparently you just came in at the wrong time" Ivan looked down as he didn't want to catch the legendary fury of the beautiful Mars Adept. "Thanks Ivan, you're the best" Jenna gave him a thankful kiss on the cheek and then hurriedly left the Inn.

Felix, after scolding Isaac and Matthew, had gone, with Karst, to check out their new house. Upon arriving, it was obvious that it would need renovations. The cabin was small, barely enough for two people. It had one bathroom a bedroom and a kitchen/living room. It was quaint but Felix didn't mind. It reminded him of Sheba, his little sister (A/N: Felix means that he thinks of Sheba as his little sister). Felix was far sadder than anyone else about her death. Despite only knowing her for a few years, Felix had developed an incredibly strong bond with her. Probably greater than the bond Sheba had with Jenna. Felix grabbed Karst as soon as they entered and kissed her. After stopping for air, Karst and Felix explored the cabin. After finishing that, they re-entered the kitchen. Felix whipped up a meal for them and afterwards. They returned to their homes. Karst was happy with her life; her renewed relationship with Felix was something out of a book. Karst had dreamed of it but never thought it could happen. But now her wildest dreams had been fulfilled. Well most of them; Karst had yet to see Alex have a bad hair day but Karst didn't really think that would happen.

After a long hot bath, Isaac got into new clothes, a plain white shirt and a grey jacket with black pants that he had borrowed from his father. Isaac sheathed the Gaia Blade and left it in his room. Isaac went downstairs and walked to the local Inn. He asked the innkeeper where Matthew was sleeping, the innkeeper told him Matthew's room number and Isaac walked upstairs to Matthew's room. Isaac raised his hand and knocked on the door. After a moment the door unlocked and Matthew appeared there shirtless. "What do you want?" Matthew asked gruffly. "I wanted to apologize, I messed up and I'm sorry, I blew my chance with Jenna so take good care of her for me ok?" Isaac held out his hand. Matthew reached out and shook Isaac's hand. "I swear I'll protect her to the end" Matthew promised. "Thank you, Matthew" Isaac, having concluded his business left the Inn and walked to Garet's house. Garet's mother greeted Isaac and let him come in. Isaac thanked her and went up to Garet's room. When he walked up the stairs, he saw Mia watching Garet sleep. "Mia?" Isaac asked quietly. Mia turned and answered him "Yes?" "I want to go with you to get the ingredients" Isaac said. Mia was surprised but suppressed it well. "We only have one ingredient left the Mapolgi Flower; it's at the Apojii Islands, but Isaac why do you want to go with us?" Mia was concerned for Jenna; she had been hurt enough and didn't need to be hurt more. "To be completely honest, there are several reasons. One, Garet is my best friend and I want to help him live. Two, I want to get out of New Vale. And three, I want to win Jenna back" Isaac **was** telling the truth, he did want to get out of New Vale and he did want to help Garet, but the top reason was to win back Jenna. Mia thought about all this for a moment before she answered "You can go, but if you say one rude thing to Matthew or Jenna you will be on a one way trip to New Vale" Isaac was ecstatic. "Isaac, calm down or you'll wake up Garet" Isaac calmed down so Mia continued. "We are gonna leave in two weeks; I suggest you become fast friends with Matthew" Isaac nodded and thanked Mia; he gave her a hug and then began walking home. On the way, a pigeon nearly rammed into Isaac, it stopped just short and Isaac saw that it had a broken arrow in it. Isaac held out his hand and the pigeon promptly landed. Isaac poured healing psyenergy into the pigeon. Isaac had met the pigeon just in time to save it. Then Isaac noticed the small scrolls attached to its leg. The message bore the royal seal of Tolbi; quickly Isaac opened it, it read: [Dear Isaac, Suhalla, Lunpa and Lalivero are demanding that you return to duel their combined champions: Ark and Cross. Suhalla claims that Thor was their second strongest warrior and Lunpa claims that Bloodbeast was not born in Lunpa. Isaac we need you to return, they have challenged you to a double duel, you must bring a warrior of equal caliber to join the fight or we will be forced to forfeit and Tolbi will be destroyed! Please Isaac, come; from King Jerome.] Isaac folded up the note in put it in his pocket. Isaac decided to get some food at the inn before choosing what to do. As he walked there he thought about what to do. _Hmm, well, I have two weeks before we set sail, so I do have time to go to Tolbi and back. But who can I take. Ivan-to weak, Felix-still angry, Mia-not a good warrior, Jenna-hates me, Garet-can't move, Piers, still angry, that doesn't leave anyone_.

After having changed out of her Funeral clothes and back into her regular clothes, Jenna went to take Mia and Garet dinner. Arriving at Garet's room was tricky mainly due to the amount of pizza Jenna had bought. But she made it there. Mia laughed when she saw Jenna walk up with boxes piled higher than her head. Mia walked over and took half the boxes. Mia went and sat back in her seat and put the pizzas next to her. Mia opened the box and watched as the aroma of the food went to Garet's nose. Instantly he was awake. Garet grinned despite the pain and tried to reach for the pizza only for his arm to fail him. Mia giggled at the look on Garet's face and after a moment's hesitation feed him a quick piece. Mia took another and bit the crust, Garet and Mia began eating it together until their lips met in a kiss. Jenna opened her own box and began eating as well. Mia, Garet and Jenna talked. Jenna and Garet told Mia of some of their exploits as children. Mia told a story of a difficult healing case she had. One time she had treated a prince another time a poor peasant. Jenna was amazed that Mia had once even healed a rival. After Garet had finished the pizzas Jenna said her goodbyes after she walked downstairs, Mia ran down to tell Jenna something "Isaac is going to go with us to get the last ingredient" Jenna was surprised and delighted, luckily only the surprise showed. Jenna thanked Mia and walked to the pavilion. On the way she ran into Matthew who was on his way back to the Inn for dinner. "Hey Matthew, will you do me a favor?" Jenna asked while putting her best sweet face on. "Anything for you" Matthew replied. "Me and Isaac used to be close friends, so I want you to treat him kindly" Jenna asked. "But he atta-" Jenna stopped him with her pouty face. "But you said anything…" Jenna wasn't really that sad but she knew how to manipulate a man's feelings. Matthew, wanting to stay with his girlfriend muttered "fine" Jenna jumped with delight and kissed him. "Thank you" Jenna said with her sweet face back again. Then Jenna turned around and skipped off.

Isaac growled in annoyance as he walked into the inn because he still couldn't think of who to bring with him to Tolbi. Isaac went to the restaurant part of the inn and saw Matthew sitting at a table. Deciding to heed Mia's advice he walked over to the man. "Hey Matthew" Isaac waved. Matthew gave him the nod but said nothing. "Can I eat with you?" Isaac asked. "Yeah sure" So Isaac sat, while drilling through the list of things he could or should talk about, Matthew spoke up. "What's that?" Matthew pointed at the letter from Tolbi. Without thinking, Isaac took the letter and handed it to Matthew. Matthew read over it and then looked up "I'll go with you, unless of course you already found someone" Isaac showed surprise on his face and was about to decline Matthew's offer when he remembered Mia's words. "Thank you, I could definitely use your assistance" Isaac said. The waiter arrived with the food and gave it to the men, who began eating it fairly quickly. "So when do we leave?" Matthew asked. "Dawn, tomorrow" Isaac answered. "Great, I'll see you then" Matthew stood, walked to the innkeeper and paid for his and Isaac's meal. Since Matthew had paid for his meal, Isaac stood and walked around New Vale for half an hour. Eventual Isaac reached the pavilion where he saw Jenna sitting. Isaac walked over to her and sat in a chair across from hers'. "Jenna, I want to start by saying I'm sorry, I shouldn't have hung out with Calsen, I should have been with you. But I also want to say that I didn't kiss Calsen, she kissed me; Jenna, I'm sorry, I screwed up and now I'm paying for it" Isaac finished his apology and waited for Jenna to say something, for a few minutes she sat there saying nothing. "I know that you didn't kiss her, Ivan mind read you at the funeral today and then he came and told me. Isaac I'm sorry too, I overreacted. We both messed up. I'll tell Piers and Mia that they don't have to be angry at you and that it was a misunderstanding. One more thing Isaac, I know you didn't do anything, but we still broke up. I'm with Matthew now and I'm not gonna break up with him to get back together with you. But Isaac, we can be still friends again. If you want to that is" Jenna confessed all this with a few tears. "I would like that a lot" Isaac and Jenna had nice long hug before breaking apart and reminiscing like old friends; at some point they relocated to the Inn. After a few hours, Isaac got to his recent adventure, and at the conclusion of his tale he said. "Me and Matthew are gonna go back to Tolbi tomorrow morning for a final duel" Jenna nodded and said "yeah, before you stopped by Matthew came and told me" After Jenna told her tale, Isaac said "I'm gonna go with you and the other guys to get the last flower" Jenna nodded again and said "Yeah Mia told me at dinner" Isaac defeated gulped down his glass of milk. After a few more minutes of reminiscing, Isaac told Jenna he needed to go to sleep, Jenna agreed and after a friendly hug, they parted ways.

A/N: Thank you so much for your review, it meant a lot to get my first review. I'll do my best but it will probably be closer to the end of the fic (or the next chapter) before they get together again (although there might possibly be a sequel =). I was wondering, should I have Calsen in the story more? And if anyone has any questions ask away, you can pm me or leave it in a review. Again thank you for the review, it means a lot.


	10. Mask: The Identity

**Chapter 11,**_** Mask**_**: Identity Crisis**

Isaac awoke from his dream and looked out the window. It was still dark out. Isaac yawned and slowly stood up and took a quick bath. Afterwards he put on his clothes and armor; retrieved the Gaia Blade and went down stairs. Isaac took a loaf of bread, a little butter and poured himself a glass of milk. Draining it, He ripped off a large bite of bread and put a bit of butter on it; then Isaac stuffed it into his mouth. Isaac brushed his teeth quickly and then stuffed the rest of the bread into his mouth. Having finished his breakfast Isaac cleaned up and then went outside.

Matthew had pretty much the same schedule as Isaac. Bath, clothes, armor, weapon, food, more food and clean up; Matthew however, had one addition to his schedule: Jenna. Matthew had awoken earlier than Isaac, specifically to tell Jenna goodbye. Matthew, knowing all too well that Felix could beat him to a bloody pulp, used his Venus Psyenergy to create a life to Jenna's window. Matthew knocked on the window softly and waited for her to answer. After a minute or two Jenna appeared in front of the window, smiling, Jenna was wearing grey sweatpants and a white undershirt. Jenna smiled at Matthew and quickly unlocked the window and let Matthew in. Matthew gave her a hug as soon as he was in her room. "Do you have to go?" Jenna asked. "You're the one who wanted me to be friends with Isaac" Matthew pointed out. "I know but that doesn't mean you had to go" Jenna said. Inwardly Matthew rolled his eyes and thought _now she tells me_. Outwardly he said "Well this will be a good way become friends with him" Jenna, defeated nodded her head in defeat, thinking of no way to get Matthew to stay. _Well there is one, but I promised Felix and mom I wouldn't do that until I'm married_… Jenna thought. Matthew had turned to leave so Jenna ran and hugged him from behind. He turned around and kissed her for a long time. Jenna noticed the water in her eyes, and not wanting to appear weak, said goodbye.

Isaac was waiting at the large psyenergy stone in the center of town. "Matthew's late" Isaac muttered to himself. Isaac was rapidly taping his foot against the ground; he was growing annoyed. Isaac slowly walked to the town entrance. After arriving at the entrance of New Vale, Isaac waited a few more minutes for Matthew. He was about to run off when Isaac saw Matthew running to him. "Wait up Isaac" Matthew said trying to sound kind. Isaac stopped walking and turned around. "Come on Matthew let's go" and with that, they were off. An hour later they had made it to Vault. "Hey Isaac, would you mind if I go buy some supplies?" Matthew asked, while thinking his stomach. "Sure go ahead" Isaac replied. He himself had someone he wanted to talk to. Slowly he walked to the house: Calsen's house. Slowly, Isaac crept through the door and up the stairs, he saw Calsen lying there, asleep. Isaac watched her a moment, he noticed that her previous wounds had been healed; in all honesty she had never looked better. Isaac, no longer angry decided to wake her up.

Calsen awoke from her pleasant dream, to see Isaac, sitting in a chair near her. Since her last conversation with Isaac she hadn't expected to see him anytime soon, and certainly not in her home. Calsen pulled the covers to her shoulders, "What do you want?" she asked hesitantly. "I wanted to talk" Isaac answered. Calsen, still hesitant asked "about what?" Isaac running out of time answered bluntly "I forgive you for destroying my relationship with Jenna; now I'm sorry but I have to go" Isaac stood and clenching his fist walked down stairs and way back to Matthew. Calsen was very confused and pinched herself to see if she was dreaming. Deciding that she wasn't dreaming and she ran to her small balcony and screamed out at Isaac. "THANK YOU AND ISAAC, LEANR HOW TO KNOCK" Calsen had a small smile on her face.

Matthew had finished buying their lunch and was looking for Isaac. For their lunch he had bought some premade sandwiches, two each. Matthew had gotten stuck in the crowd of people and couldn't find Isaac. Matthew was beginning to become annoyed with the many people that were stopping him from finding Isaac. Matthew looked at a small balcony one house had, thinking that maybe if he jumped up there he could see Isaac. _Oh well_ Matthew thought, revealing that he was an Adept probably wasn't the smartest idea. Matthew was still watching the balcony, having spaced off a bit when he noticed the door open and the woman from Colosso, _Calles was that her name? _Matthew wondered, but what really drew his attention to her was the fact that she screamed something about Isaac. Matthew stood on the tips of his toes and saw Isaac's trademark hair. "Hey Isaac, over here" Matthew shouted hoping that Isaac could hear him over the loud street noises; luckily Isaac did hear Matthew and promptly walked to him. "Hey" Isaac gave a smirk. Matthew decided not to ask why he smirked and simply said "come on let's get out of here"

After several hours of walking, Matthew and Isaac arrived in Tolbi at nightfall. Quickly they went to the palace to meet with Iodem. "Isaac, Matthew. Good to see you two; the duel is to take place tomorrow at two o-clock at Babi Lighthouse" Iodem stated. "Wait I thought that was destroyed?" Isaac scratched his head in confusion. "It was, King Jerome had it rebuilt north east of here by the waterfall. Anyway, for tonight you two can sleep in the royal guest rooms; right this way" Iodem motioned for the two earth Adepts to follow him and began walking down a hall. After a short walk he arrived at two doors. Iodem pulled out a key, unlocked the doors and opened the doors for Matthew and Isaac. Isaac noted how huge the room was and then quickly went to bed and drifted to sleep.

The next morning Isaac and Matthew awoke slightly early and quickly bathed, put on their armor and readied themselves for the coming duel. When they had finished readying themselves, the two men went to the kitchen and grabbed a quick breakfast and a loaf of bread. Afterwards they began the journey to Babi Lighthouse. It was about eleven in the morning when they arrived at the lighthouse. It was a slightly intimidating structure. It was very tall and large; a few hundred feet in the air. It had red circular walls and very few windows. As Isaac and Matthew entered the lighthouse they saw that, although the lighthouse looked fancy on the outside; the inside was almost entirely hollow with the small exception of a set of circular stairs. Isaac looked at Matthew and with a shrug of his shoulders, began jogging up the long flight of stairs. At high noon, Matthew and Isaac were almost to the top and decided to take a quick lunch break. Isaac broke the loaf of bread and tossed half to Matthew; within minutes their lunch break had finished and the Adepts stood to finish the long walk to the top. When the two arrived at the top of the lighthouse at two o-clock they saw that the top of the lighthouse had a glass dome over it to prevent dumb people or kids from falling off and dying. They also saw Ark and Cross.

Ark wore a long dark blue cloak (A/N: kind of like the Akatsuki cloaks from Naruto only Ark's is dark blue) and had a katana strapped to his waist. Ark had blue hair, like all Mercury Adepts, that went straight up. He also had a dark gleam in his eyes. Cross, on the other hand, wore a green jacket with white pants and had very short blond hair. He had two katanas strapped to his back (forming an X-shape) and a rather large sword going through the X. He wore a straw hat atop his head. Cross also bore a dark smirk and had a scar across his head. In all honesty Isaac was nervous. Matthew gulped before placing his hand on Ra's Vengeance.

"So you finally decided to show. Hahaha guess I over estimated your value of life" Ark crossed his arms and smirked. "Well it looks like we will be home for dinner doesn't it Cross?" Ark looked across the open area of the lighthouse at his partner. Cross didn't respond, he simply watched Isaac. It was a genius tactic actually; it was making Isaac grow even more nervous. After another moment of staring, Cross turned to Ark and nodded to him. As soon as Cross nodded Ark broke into a fury of ice missiles. Isaac swiftly drew the Gaia Blade and slashed at the missiles head at him. As they closed in Ark waved his arms out and the ice missiles exploded; sending out hundreds of small ice needles. Isaac summoned a wall of dome of earth around himself to stop the needles. To his ever growing shock, some of the needles went into the dome and struck Isaac's chest. Isaac shrugged it off and sprinted at Ark. Ark smirked and created a shield of ice to block Isaac's strike. After the block, Ark swung as hard as he could at Isaac's neck, nearly decapitating him! At the last possible second, Isaac leaped at the ground in an effort to dodge the attack. Isaac thought he was done for only to hear a sharp "cling" sound. Isaac looked up to see Matthew, with several ice needles in him, blocking Ark's blow. Realizing what he had to do, Isaac swung the Gaia blade and struck Ark's feet. Ark screamed in pain and created a large glacier of ice to throw at the earth Adepts. As Ark threw the giant glacier, a massive golden eagle smashed through the glass dome and into the glacier; sending ice everywhere. Isaac realized, to his delight, that Matthew had used Bane of Apophis. Seizing the opportunity, Isaac screamed out "Titan Blade" and a large blade of energy came crashing into Ark and then exploded in a massive blast.

After the smoke cleared Isaac and Matthew looked to see a hole in Arks chest; amazingly Ark was still alive. Ark stood slowly, put his hand to the new hole in his chest and used his Mercury Psyenergy to create a block of ice to stop the bleeding. Ark gave a devilish smile before drawing his katana and lunging at Matthew. Quickly the young earth Adept moved his sword up to block the strike; surprisingly though Ark swung down and struck Matthew's knee. Matthew fell to the ground in pain and grabbed his knee pouring his healing Venus Psyenergy into the gash in his leg. Isaac sent a wave of pure psyenergy at Ark flinging him back to the edge of the Lighthouse. Ark stood and used his Mercury Psyenergy to make his sword larger. He swung down at Isaac… to no avail. With a powerful attack, Isaac shattered Ark's katana into tiny bits of metal and ice. Isaac walked Ark to the edge of the area. Isaac pointed his sword at Ark and spoke to him. "You tried to kill my friend you flipping maggot" Isaac, with the blunt side of his sword, smashed the Gaia Blade into Ark's head. Isaac turned around and began to walk back to Matthew only to hear Ark rush him. In one swift motion Isaac turned around and smashed the tip of the Gaia Blade into Ark's heart. Isaac, angry, walked back to Matthew and helped him up. After Matthew was healed the two Earth Adepts walked over to Cross who had watched the entire fight without helping his partner.

Cross smirked before he spoke again. "So you defeated my foolish partner HA, he was a pathetic buffoon. Now face true fear" Cross held out his arms and leaped high into the air. Suddenly thunder clouds came in and sent terrifying blasts of thunder out. Slowly Cross rose in the air, he looked up and his eyes were pure white. Suddenly Cross' back erupted in blood and… feathers? White angel wings had emerged from Cross' back; they were bloodied up and his back was bleeding too but it allowed Cross the ability to fly. Cross devilishly smiled; while his wings emerged he had grabbed his two katanas. His large blade just barely dodged the wings that had emerged. Cross raised up his arms and a thunder cloud came rolling in; instantly it started raining… hard. After a few moments hail came down two, the storm was so rough that it was difficult to see anything else. Cross swung his sword down but was completely out of range of the two earth Adepts which confused Isaac and Matthew. As Cross finished swing a speedy blast of lightning came flying out of the sky and narrowly missed Matthew. Cross swung again and the lightning came again; barely missing Isaac. Isaac, with his experience with Jupiter Adepts, knew that summoning lightning takes a large amount of psyenergy; knowing this, he realized he could just dodge until Cross ran out of Psyenergy power. "Matthew just keep dodging, lightning costs a lot of psyenergy Cross can't keep this up for long" Matthew nodded as he dodged another blast of lightning.

Half an hour later, Matthew and Isaac had become tired of dodging. More specifically, Isaac was shocked that Cross still had lots of psyenergy. After a moment of quick rest, Isaac looked up at Cross. "How is it that you still have so much psyenergy after thirty minutes of non-stop lightning?" Cross laughed fairly quietly to himself and explained, saying "I'm using natural lightning" When Isaac and Matthew still looked confused Cross continued. "I'm using the lightning that this storm creates. I use psyenergy to direct when and where it strikes but that doesn't take much effort. The only usage of psyenergy was creating the storm. After that the storm maintain itself" Cross laughed when he saw the looks of understanding on the earth Adepts faces. "Ok enough of a break your done" Cross swung his blades at both Adepts before him, lightning forced them to jump back. Cross smiled as he threw the swords at threw Adepts. Yet again Matthew and Isaac dodged only to see the katanas unleash a blast of electrical Jupiter Psyenergy. Both Venus Adepts were wounded, stunned and ultimately unable to dodge Cross' next attack. Cross had drawn forth his largest sword and slammed it into the ground, a gigantic blast of lightning landed between Matthew and Isaac, forcing both over the edge. Matthew drew his sword and cried out "Bane of Apophis" which caused a large golden eagle to swoop down and catch him. Matthew looked over to see Cross flying in the air; he was making sure he had killed them. Unfortunately he hadn't. Isaac had grabbed the edge and hung there. Cross raised his large sword above his head and swung down… only to meet Ra's Vengeance.

Matthew swung up, aiming for Cross face; only for Cross to fly high and dodge the attack. Cross swung his sword down again, this time actually aiming for Ra's Vengeance. The attack struck just above the handle; it took all Matthew's might to not lose his grip on the sword. Matthew tightened his grip before starting to go low, midway through the slice, Cross lowered his blade to stop Ra's Vengeance; however, Matthew sent the blade up. It should have sliced it off however; a lightning strike came down and blocked the sword. Cross smiled before sending a light blast of Jupiter Psyenergy at Matthew. The young Venus Adept was sent towards the back of the golden eagle he was on. Matthew stood and mentally commanded the Bane of Apophis to fly straight into the lighthouse. The attack was unexpected to Cross. The eagle surged forward and smashed through the lighthouse; leaving a massive hole in it. Because of the shock wave, Isaac fell. Isaac was Matthew fallen as well and an idea struck him; smiling to himself he called forth the "Titan Blade". The blade went under Matthew and under Isaac; it then crashed into the lighthouse. Matthew and Isaac disembarked the sword and entered the destroyed lighthouse. They saw Cross, with his jacket blown off and his pants ripped to his knees, fly straight to the top of the lighthouse. Isaac screamed in frustration and then launched himself and Matthew to the top via Venus Psyenergy.

At the top Isaac and Matthew arrived a bit too late. Cross had walked over to Ark's body and placed his hands on Ark's unmoving body. Cross put one hand on Ark's chest (just below the ice area Ark had made) and slowly pulled extracted a small dimly lit blue orb. "Matthew do you know what he's doing?" Isaac asked. Matthew nodded as he watched. "He's extracting Ark's life force" Isaac turned to look at Matthew in confusion. "But I stabbed him in the heart how could he still be alive?" Matthew thought for a split second before answering. "Either Ark is barely alive or his body still contains the essence of his life force. I think Cross plans on absorbing Ark's life force er life force essence into him to strengthen himself" Isaac nodded in understanding before asking one last question. "Why are we standing here doing nothing if Cross is going to become even stronger" Matthew looked at Isaac and smirked. "Because you wanted to ask some questions" With that the young earth Adepts sprinted at Cross who unleashed a wave of wind to keep the Adepts away. Slowly the blue orb of life essence moved into Cross. Cross rose into the air again then Ark's body floated up into the air, together their bodies merged and a large flash of white light happened. After the light, a single body floated down. The new warrior wore a dark green cloak that was like Ark's only green; the main deference was that when it got to the legs it parted showing his white pants and yellow belt. The new warrior had a single long katana strapped around his back. "You may call me Core, and now you will fall" Core pulled free his katana and raised it above his head. "Now face my ultimate technique: **Ultimate Golden Lightning Tsunami**" Isaac was angry and he agreed with Core, now was the time to end this. Isaac looked at Matthew and gave him the nod. Isaac shouted out "**TITAN BLADE**" and Matthew bellowed "**BANE OF APOPHIS**" Together a giant golden Eagle appeared far above the lighthouse, it opened its' beak and the Titan Blade protruded from it. Suddenly giant huge electric waves were sent flying into the eagle. But it was as if the eagle ignored it. It simply went flying through the massive waves. The eagle unleashed the Titan Blade and it went through all of the waves and into Core! Then the eagle went flying through the waves and also crashed into Core the only deference: The eagle sent Core through the floor and into the bottom of the lighthouse. At the bottom the eagle and sword both exploded violently. Isaac thought he heard Core's horrified scream. If that wasn't enough to kill Core then what happened next did.

Because of the extremely powerful explosions, the lighthouse's base structure was destroyed and the lighthouse collapsed upon itself; and by extension; Core. Isaac and Matthew had jumped off at the last possible moment, allowing them to send the earth up to catch them. After a long hour of rest, Isaac and Matthew stood and began the short journey back to Tolbi. On the way back they talked a bit. "You did very well out there Matthew" Isaac complemented. "Thanks you did great yourself" Matthew and Isaac were both very weary from there duel; both had extended almost all of their psyenergy and were wounded. "Matthew can I ask you a question about your Tundaria mission?" Isaac had a very specific question in mind and was happy that he now had a friendship with Matthew; which allowed him to ask his question. "Go ahead and ask" Matthew replied. "How strong is Mask? I faced him in Colosso and he was definitely stronger than me and I think he was holding back then. I only won on a technicality." Isaac had had Mask's power on his mind ever since he had heard about it from Jenna. In all honesty it worried him. From what Jenna said, it sounded as if Mask was equal to a Doom Dragon and a half. The Warriors of Vale had barely beaten the Doom Dragon so Isaac had no idea how they were to avenge Sheba. "To be honest Isaac, he is powerful, far more powerful than you, me, Jenna and Felix combined. I have no idea how far his true power is. When Sheba's protector first came out she seemed to be on par with Mask. But then at the end of the fight, Mask said something about thanks for the fun, and unleashed a strong attack. I personally believe that he has held back anytime any of us have fought him" Isaac whistled in dismay and was also at a loss for words. They had walked for a while now and were coming upon the last hill before they could see Tolbi. Isaac switched his walk to a jog. "Come on Matthew, you should go faster. The faster we run the faster you'll see Je-" Matthew gave Isaac a questioning look as Isaac had stopped midsentence. Matthew jogged up to see what had put Isaac at a loss for words. When he came to the top of the hill he gasped in shock at what he was seeing. Tolbi was aflame.

Jenna was having a fine, uneventful weekend. Matthew and Isaac had left a few days ago but Jenna was almost happy about it because it gave her time to figure out her feelings. After a day of staying in bed, the young Adept decided to talk with Mia about it. Jenna enjoyed the outdoors; that's part of the reason she went with Felix; camping out under the stars almost every night with your brother and best frien-. _Sheba _Jenna thought, it still hurt to think about her even if it had been a while. Jenna wasn't sure the pain would every go away, all thanks to stupid Mask. Jenna hated him. She wanted him dead, which scarred her she hadn't ever wanted anyone to die well except maybe Agatio but he was a huge jerk. But that's beside the point, even with Agatio she would have saved him if she could but with Mask… Jenna didn't really know what she would do if he was hanging off a cliff. Would she help him or laugh and use _Move_ on him. That was also something Jenna needed to talk to Mia about. Jenna was almost to Mia's house now so she quietly knocked on the door. Quickly Garet's mother opened the door and told her where Mia was. The easily angered woman walked to Mia's room and knocked on the door… no answer. Jenna figured Mia would be in Garet's room and walked up there. Jenna was correct, Mia was there feeding Garet his breakfast.

Mia turned around when Garet gestured behind her to Jenna. Mia gave a little wave and smile. "Hey Jenna what's up?" The visitor returned the wave and smile with a reply "Not a lot I was hoping we could talk" Mia gave a sympathetic look and said "Sorry but Piers invited me to lunch" "I don't like you too together" Garet piped up while clenching his fist. "Well I'm here almost all the time, it's about time I see some friends… other than you and Jenna" Mia almost forgot about Jenna in the room. "Ok well I guess we can talk later" Jenna turned to leave but Garet spoke again. "Hey Jenna I can talk with you if ya like, I've been feeling better" Garet lied, he hadn't been feeling better but even he could see that Jenna needed to talk to someone. "It will be just like old times?" Garet commented. Jenna considered it for a moment "Sure Garet it will be fun" Mia got up to leave and meet Piers while Jenna sat in Mia's old chair. "So Jenna what's wrong?" Jenna smiled; Garet wasn't one for small talk. "Well, that was blunt" Jenna saw Garet's face become a bit worried, Jenna wondered why. "p-please don't hurt me" Garet pleaded. "Why would I hurt you?" Jenna was confused. Garet realized that she didn't know of her own legendary temper… best to keep it that way. "No reason, sorry for being blunt but what is wrong? You're not acting normal" Jenna looked at the floor for a minute before answering. "Well I originally thought Isaac betrayed me, now I know I overreacted, however I'm also in a relationship with Matthew, and I don't know what to do. I love Isaac and really like Matthew and I don't want to hurt Matthew" Jenna explained. Garet thought hard, of course he wanted her and Isaac to get back together but he wanted to not be biased; he genuinely wanted to help Jenna. "Although it makes me sad to say this but, I think the correct thing to do would be to stay with Matthew unless he does something warranting break-up" It was an genuine answer, she was with Matthew now and Jenna never does anything to emotionally hurt someone. Sure she would hit people or use psyenergy on her friends, but that was her personality and that stuff didn't matter. Her relationships will actually affect her life, and Garet knew she would try to do what's right for everyone. Jenna nodded contemplating Garet's words. She turned and looked at Garet and gave him a large smile. "Thanks Garet I think that's what I'll do" although painful, Garet returned the smile. The two talked about Garet and Mia's relationship, reminisced, talked about Garet's new sword, Vulcan's Might and had lunch. It was good for Jenna, she had needed this.

While Jenna and Garet were conversing, Mia had walked down to Piers cabin down the river. Mia was happy to talk with Piers, during the adventure she had made a close friend in Piers. As they were both Mercury Adepts they had much they could discuss, whether it was fighting, healing, Djinn or even Lemuria and Imil. They had become fast friends. Mia hadn't talked to him much after the adventure, he had gone sailing and Mia had stayed at New Vale and Imil. So when Piers had invited her to lunch at his cabin she had been delighted to go. Truth be told, although she loved Garet, it could get tiresome and annoying up there all day.

When Mia arrived she was surprised to see that Piers had built a dock at his cabin. Of course it couldn't hold anything extremely large but it worked for small boats. What surprised Mia more was that on the dock was a two person silver table with an elegant white table cloth over it. It had silver goblets and cups and silverware. And most curious of all was that Piers was nowhere to be seen. "Hello? Piers are you here?" Mia called out, while looking around. When there was no answer Mia timidly walked to the door of the small cabin and knocked. "Piers hello? Its Mia can you open up?" Mia heard a loud crash and she quickly opened the door to see that Piers had dropped a large cooked chicken on the floor. "Dang it, that was are lunch" Piers said to himself. "It's ok Piers, I have an idea" Piers gave her a curious look.

**Thirty minutes later**

"Well it worked" Piers said with a look of shock. "That it did" Mia replied. Mia's idea was to get a large pot and fry the chicken. It got rid of the germs and tasted very good. Piers had agreed and tried to keep the rest of the dining experience elegant. After lunch, the two Mercury Adepts talked for awhile. They talked about Mia's relationship and reminisced too. "So Piers where are you going to live, I mean I figure that you won't stay in New Vale your whole life" Mia asked as she walked over to the dock, slipped off her shoes and sat with her feet in the water. Piers went and joined her before speaking. "I think I'm going to sail the seas for a long while and just look" Piers was gazing down the river now. Mia put her hand on his leg and asked "What will you be looking for?" Piers turned to look at Mia "I don't know" Piers admitted, he originally was going to ask Mia to join him in sailing around the universe, but after hearing the love between Garet and Mia, and seeing the glow Mia had in her eyes he knew he wouldn't throw himself into the mix. He loved her enough that he wanted her to be happy. Mia gave him a smile and said "Well Piers, you can always visit me and Garet" She was being sincere; maybe she didn't know that Piers and Garet were almost complete opposites. Piers was always kind and quiet, Garet was obnoxious and loud. Piers would go out of his way to be nice, like fixing a house. Garet would try to help and end up destroying it. Piers didn't understand why Mia loved Garet, but was content that she was happy. "Thank you Mia, it has been nice to talk to a friend" Piers said as he smiled. Piers got up off the small dock and helped Mia up too. Then he gave her a hug and told her goodnight. Piers went straight to bed, he dreamed of the life he would never have with Mia.

Mia returned home happy that she had finally gotten out of the house. Still, she didn't want to head back to Garet's yet so she walked to the broken bridge where she was sure Jenna would be at. She was wrong, dismayed she realized Jenna was probably still at Garets. Mia walked down to the house and came in. Garet's mother had insisted that Mia didn't need to knock since she lived there now. Mia walked down to the stairs to go see Garet only to run into Jenna. They waved but didn't talk for long because Jenna was tired. Mia walked upstairs and saw Garet almost asleep. Mia walked over to him and kissed his cheek. "Mia…" Garet softly said. Mia was sure that he was asleep so she went downstairs to sleep, content with a good day.

Isaac was shocked at the bloodshed before him. Tolbi had been massacred; the streets were filled with blood and bodies. It seemed as though every person was dead and every building was set aflame. Matthew had vomited when he saw all the destruction. Isaac had been silent, he had actually known some of these people, they had helped him and he had helped them. It devastated him. The two continued to walk through town, tired and weak but still on the guard. They both had their swords drawn but probably didn't have the energy to fight off an army. The two Adepts made their way down to the castle. Opening the grand doors and checking out the inside. All of the castle had been burned. Previously white, it was now a grayish black due to the flames. They walked through the ruined castle in disgust at the devastated bodies around them. Eventual reaching the hallway linking the coliseum with the castle, they discovered the body of the king. He was mutilated, his arms ripped apart and his legs thrown aside. His head and crown were on a pike in the middle of the hall. Isaac and Matthew vomited until their insides hurt badly. Then they continued to the coliseum. There they discovered, to their horror that an enemy unit was there, huge tables were set up and it looked as though they had been feasting. Currently they were in a circle around a single man who was fighting another man. Matthew, in his disgust rushed the enemy. They turned laughed and drew their swords. The unit then ran straight at Matthew. He used his Venus Psyenergy to send the soldiers high into the air, most of them crashed and died but about 15 of them lived. One threw his javelin at Matthew and got him in the leg. Matthew cried out in pain and launched a rather large wave of earth out at the warriors; the remaining warriors all went flying to the walls and ceiling, all dead on contact. Matthew approached the man who was fighting for his life. Matthew walked to him and saw that it was Iodem. He was cut up and bruised, he had been bleeding and lost lots of blood, he didn't seem too good. Then Matthew noticed the man's face; it was Iodem. "Matthew, that means… Isaac… is here… as well… please hurry… save Tolbi" Iodem closed his eyes and he quit breathing.

Isaac saw it, the death of Iodem. However he also saw a man run off down a hall. Isaac began chasing after the man. Turning to the right, he saw the man enter a doorway to the left. Isaac quickly followed the man into the room revealing stairs. The man ran up three floors before exiting. Isaac did the same and saw the man jump through a window onto the thin stone on the outside of the coliseum. Isaac ran and jumped onto the edge as well. The man didn't want to be captured, (obviously) jumped up and climbed up to the roof. Isaac did the same and saw the man sprinting towards the city. The man reached the edge of the coliseum roof and leaped off, falling two stories before crashing into the roof of a burning house. Isaac, after a moment of hesitation, followed the man off the coliseum and onto the rooftop. By this time, the man had jumped to a second roof top and Isaac followed. After several minutes of chasing, the man leaped off of a tall house onto the roof of a house situated on the edge of a very tall wall. The man collided with the roof and it caved in. Isaac jumped through the whole and ran after the man and through the burning house. The man flipped a burned table over behind him to try to stop Isaac; he however merely jumped over it and continued running at the man. It was then that Isaac noticed that the man wasn't running anymore in fact, he was limping! The man slammed a door shut only to realize that he was on the wall above the still burning lower district of Tolbi, The man stopped and slowly turned around. It was King Jerome! Isaac was shocked and outraged. "Wait how are you here? I saw your body" Jerome let out a laugh. "That was the body of the king, not **my** body" Isaac crossed his arms. "Explain. NOW" Jerome let out a sigh. "Well we've accomplished our goal so there's no point in keeping it a secret. After Colosso Suhalla, Lunpa and Lalivero entered into an alliance. Lunpa sent its best assassin who assassinated the king. Then they set me up as the king" Isaac took a step forward. 'Why you?" Jerome chuckled. "Because I looked the most like the previous king" Isaac dropped his hands to his sides. "Why do all this?" Jerome looked down. "Only two years since the Golden Sun and everyone has increased in power exponentially. Everyone except Tolbi and that was only because they hadn't gathered a new king yet. We knew that when they acquired a new king they would enter into a new golden age. So we decided to destroy them while they were weak" Isaac too two steps forward, forcing Jerome to step onto the edge of the wall. "Did you really have to kill, no **murder**, everyone in Tolbi" Jerome nodded. "It was necessary" "Even the children?" Isaac clenched his fist in anger. "If we let anyone survive they could raise an army later and destroy us" "**HOW CAN YOU EVEN THINK OFF MURDER, DEFENSELESS, INNOCENT PURE LITTLE CHILDREN? YOU ARE A DESPICABLE LITTLE COWARD OF A MAN!**" Isaac raged. "Does that mean you are going to kill me?" Jerome asked weakly. Isaac looked at Jerome. _I can tell he's going to kill me_ thought Jerome. "I won't kill a defenseless person, so no, I am not going to kill you" Isaac was angered that his code of ethics wouldn't allow him to kill Jerome. It was one thing to kill Saturos and Menardi in combat, it was another to kill a defenseless wounded person. Jerome tried to walk away, but Isaac stopped him. "**I HATE YOU JEROME AND IF I EVER SEE YOUR FACE AGAIN, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU. **Oh and it won't be a easy death**" **Jerome took another step back in shock and fear… only to forget that he was on the edge of a wall above raging flames. As quickly as a wounded man could he grabbed to the edge, but Jerome knew he couldn't hold on for long. "Isaac help me, please" The darkest look came to Isaac's face. "Just because I won't kill doesn't mean I have to save you" Isaac watched as Jerome fell into the burning flames below him. Jerome swore and swore as he was burned, he cursed Isaac's name repeatedly but it didn't stop the raging flames. When the agonizing screams stopped, Isaac walked back to Matthew ready to return to home.

It had been two nights since the destruction of Tolbi. Matthew still felt sick to the stomach and Isaac had been distant. The two had had little to no social interaction since Tolbi. Both of their clothes and armor had blood soaked into it; some of it theirs, some Ark and Cross's and some just the blood from Tolbi's people. So when they arrived at Vault both were anxious to get a long night's sleep. Isaac skipped dinner and went straight to bed. He fell asleep quickly enough; only to dream a nightmare. Matthew on the other hand, ate a lot of food, took a long bath and only then did he go to sleep.

The next morning both Adepts woke up late in the morning, almost the afternoon. Slowly they put on their blood stained clothes and walked towards New Vale. After a good hour of slow walking they had finally arrived at New Vale. Both were quite relieved to be back. Isaac went to Garet's to eat, rest and talk. Isaac was exhausted and he figured that talking to his best friend would be nice. So he walked up the very used stairs to his friends clutter room. Isaac was slightly surprised to see that Mia wasn't there. Almost every time Isaac had gone to see Garet she was there, except when she was off getting the herbs. So Isaac took joy in the fact that he could have a real conversation with Garet, who wouldn't be in fear of upsetting Mia. "Hey Garet, how are you holding up, and be honest" Isaac said as he sat down next to Garet's bed.

"Well, since you want me to be honest and all, I'm in a lot of pain; its just constant pain, here look at this" Garet threw off his shirt to reveal that his back was bloodied up muscle, no skin had grown back and even then, the muscles were a dark sickly color as though he was being poisoned. Mia believes that Alex used some type of psyenergy 'poison' to hurt me and that's what is stopping me from healing" Isaac leaned back in sighed. Garet was surprised, usually Isaac had a fairly weak stomach, the old Isaac would have thrown up at the sight, so Garet knew something bad happened in Tolbi. "Isaac, what happened in Tolbi?" Isaac turned and looked out the window, not particularly wanting to talk about Tolbi. It didn't exactly bring back fond memories anymore. Sure there was the originally Colosso was fun at Tolbi, but then the bad stuff happened: Babi died, Calsen ruined his relationship with Jenna, Alex showed up and nearly killed Garet, they first found Mask and then it was brutally demolished and its people were butchered.

"Sorry Garet, but yeah, stuff happened, a lot of stuff happened" Isaac began his tale of the champions of Suhalla, Lunpa and Lalivero, the fights with them, the discovery of the Golden Sun in him, the battle with Ark and Cross and finally the conclusion of the discovery that Jerome was a traitor who planned the annihilation of Tolbi. At the end of the tale, Garet whistled, which stung but Garet was used to it, everything hurt these days.

"What about Jenna?" Garet knew this might be a bad idea to ask about but went ahead and did it anyway.

Isaac shrugged, "we're friends again, so that's a start. Right now she's with Matthew and what she basically told me is that, I had my chance and now it's Matthew's turn" Isaac closed his eyes recalling the memory, I know I want her to be happy, but I want to be happy to"

Garet nodded in painful understanding. "I think she never got over you Isaac, she has always loved you, even when we were kids, and she didn't hang out with us for me. It was for you, she crushed on you since you we were kids. So don't worry, you'll get another chance" Isaac appeared to look up (figuratively speaking) at the words, and smiled,

"Yeah I guess your right" Thanks for the talk Garet, Isaac said as he stood to leave. The young Adept had been at Garet's for almost two hours, telling him what all happened at Tolbi. It was kinda exhausting, so Isaac went for some lunch. At the inn, Isaac bought a sandwich and some potato chips. He walked to a table and saw Jenna and Matthew sitting and eating together. He felt a ping of hurt at the sight and looked away to start eating and to avoid the sight. Isaac tried to finish his food quickly so he could leave only. He couldn't stand the sight of them together.

Meanwhile, Jenna had seen Isaac walk inside the Inn/restaurant. However she knew he wouldn't want to eat with her **and** Matthew so she pretended not to see him. When her boyfriend left (after paying of course) she instantly went to Isaac to talk with him. "HEY Isaac how are you?" Jenna saw that Isaac's eyes went huge in fear at seeing her. Jenna laughed a little before sitting in the seat next to him. "What are you doing here?" She asked, enjoying every minute of his fear at Matthew coming back.

"Um fine, listen Jenna, I uh… uh need to go bye" Isaac rushed out of the inn, leaving Jenna in his wake. Jenna crossed her arms and counted to ten. When she hit ten, Isaac came back in, and paid for his meal and then tried to leave again only to be chased by Jenna. As they raced, Jenna was able to slightly direct where they were going, so she eventual got him to the small cliff at the edge of town. Jenna sent a surge of pure psyenergy at Isaac sent him flying off the cliff and into the ground. Jenna smiled and said "That's what you get for trying to blow me off, hn" She turned around, crossed her arms and walked away inwardly smiling. Isaac laughed and was extremely happy that he had one of his best friends back.

THREE HOURS LATER

Mia was worried, her grandparents had sent a message saying that Justin lacked enough skills to heal everyone; and on top of that, her grandfather had shown symptoms of a certain disease that Mia knew couldn't Hermes' Water couldn't heal. In essence, Imil needed Mia and Mia needed to help Garet. Mia shed tears thinking about it. Ultimately, Mia decided to leave New Vale a few days before intended. Which is why she was walking down to Isaac's to tell him to pack up because they were leaving tomorrow after lunch. She knocked on the new, yet old looking, door and waited for someone to come. After a short wait, Dora came to answer the door and told Mia to head right on up. Mia thanked her and went on her way.

"Isaac, are you in here?" Mia asked as she lightly knocked on his door and then entered the quant room. It wasn't big but also wasn't extremely small. It had a bookshelf, a desk, a closet, and a bed with Isaac sitting on it.

"Yeah what's up Mia?" He asked, as he turned around to survey the girl. She had beautiful eyes, Isaac noticed. But this was Garet's girls and Isaac would never date her. He smiled, looked at her, expecting a reply.

"We're leaving tomorrow after lunch, so pack up" Mia surprisingly commanded. Isaac hadn't known Mia to ever really be forceful or demanded, or well a leader. But he didn't mind, tomorrow would work for him just as well as any other day.

"Cool, where are we going to meet?" Isaac asked as he stands and walks over to his closet and began pulling out his needed armor, and weapons, potions and well, anything else that was useful really.

"At town center, in front of the Psy Stone" Mia said. Isaac nodded and Mia turned around and left. She wondered how long it would take Isaac to get his stuff together. _Probably not too long considering he just got back from a journey, but hey, you never know _Mia thought to herself as she trotted down the dirt road to Jenna's.

Mia arrived to see Jenna and Matthew lying on the couch making out. Mia resisted the urge to scream 'GET BACK WITH ISAAC' and calmly walked over to the couch and poked Jenna. Jenna stopped kissing and turned around. Jenna instantly blushed, embarrassed to be caught making out with her boyfriend.

"Um, he- hey Mia, Why are ya here?" Jenna asked while trying to do her best not to look at Matthew.

"I wanted to tell you two that we are going to leave tomorrow after lunch, we're meeting at the psyenergy stone" With that, Mia turned around and walked to the door. Before she left she turned around and with a roll of her eyes said "You can resume your activities now" Mia smirked when she saw Jenna blush an even deeper red. After Jenna's house, Mia simply went to Ivan's room and told him about the early leaving. After that, she went back to Garet's house and slept comfortably in the room that had been made for her.

The next day after lunch, the group met at the stone and very silently walked to Piers ship about an hour away. Everyone knew what they were doing. Ivan went to pilot the ship, Isaac and Matthew went around preparing the ship for lift off, Jenna and Mia went to clean the rooms. Mia sighed, this was her life and it was good. After finishing all the rooms, Mia and Jenna walked out onto the deck and watched the lift off. Mia smiled as she felt the wind go through her hair and on her face. Mia loved these moments, they were almost completely perfect. Mia walked down to Ivan. Mia asked, "hey Ivan, how long until we arrive at the Apojii Islands?"

"Three days probably" Ivan said without turning around.

"Okay thank you" Mia turned and walked down to Isaac who was sitting and taking a break. "Hey, I haven't talked to you in awhile" Mia said with a kind breath. On their adventures, Mia and Isaac had become very close friends. Isaac and Mia would talk to each other about anything. Both new they wouldn't ever consider dating. So they were always able to talk to each other. Mia had always known Isaac loved Jenna; she had even encouraged him (and Jenna) to speak up about their feelings. Which, eventually Isaac did.

"Yeah, it has been awhile" Isaac said as he watched her sit next to him. "so how are you Mia?" Isaac knew she was hurting, he also knew, (because of Garet) that her grandfather was sick.

"I'm holding up" Mia said, deciding not to lie. She didn't have energy to lie.

"You sure? I mean I heard about your grandfather" Isaac realized he was stupid to even mention her grandfather in front of her, as evidence she started to cry when he mentioned him. Isaac put an arm around her and held her close; knowing he couldn't say anything to make her feel better. So he just held her.

Jenna had finished cleaning and had gone to talk with Matthew for a little bit. After that, she went to the top deck to see where Mia was. As Jenna walked up the stairs, she heard sobs. Quickly she jogged up and turned to face the sobs only to Mia; being held by Isaac. It took every single ounce of Jenna's willpower not to blast her friends on sight. Instead, she unleashed fire. Fire was coming off her like dynamite. Jenna, stomped back down stairs and decided to not think about what she saw. Jenna waited for about two hours. Matthew came and brought her dinner and they ate in silence. After dinner, Matthew left (not wanting to get on her bad side) so Jenna was sitting alone in her room waiting for Mia.

Around bed time, Mia came through the door, her eyes still wet from tears. Mia waved to Jenna, but the fire Adept gave her an evil eye. "Are you okay Jenna? You are acting a bit weird." Mia asked with a smile.

"I saw that you let Isaac hold you." Jenna said coldly, which was odd because usually, she doesn't withhold her anger.

Mia shook her head in frustration and anger before answering. "He was comforting me because my grandfather is really sick." Mia didn't withhold her annoyance. "And besides, you are not dating Isaac anymore, remember?"

Jenna dawned a look of understanding, embarrassment and guilt all at once. "I'm so sorry Mia. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions and it's true I'm not dating him, but I stil-" Jenna realized her next words were going to be: 'still have feelings for him.' But she really didn't want to admit it, so she stayed silent.

Mia, seizing the opportunity, teased "What is it, cat got your tongue?" Normally, Mia didn't tease or do anything rude at all. However, she was angry, tired, annoyed, and frustrated, so she seized the chance. Jenna, greatly blushed, and then scurried off to ready herself for bed. She dreamed a beautiful dream of love.

xXx

Over the next few days, ship life became normal. Isaac and Ivan took turns piloting the vessel and Matthew watched for any obstructions and for land. Mia and Jenna made meals and cleaned and healed Matthew when he fell off the ladder once. Life became fun, living with friends and rivals. Unfortunately, after a couple of days of sailing, they arrived at the Apojii Islands.

The islands had become a rather large rain forest since the Golden Sun. They had an exotic wildlife, filled with animals, plants, trees and water… lots of water. The water was slightly cold, but manageably so. So, to Jenna, the beautiful but easily-angered Mars Adept, it was annoying to walk in water and ruin her boots. Fortunately it didn't take long to reach the small settlement, near the edge of Gaia Falls. The group asked around about the Mapolgi Flower, but so far no one had seen it, so after two days of walking around the Adepts decided to search for it by sight rather than rumor.

After twelve hours of walking up and down the land dangerously close to Gaia Falls, they hadn't discovered the Mapolgi Flower. While sitting down for a quick lunch break. Jenna looked at Isaac and began remembering her time with him. The few months had been amazing, and now, Jenna realized she had fallen in love and never stopped loving him. Isaac thought the same, as he they stared into each other's eyes. Matthew saw the looks in their eyes and knew what he was going to do. Before he could though, Mia shook Jenna and her thoughts drifted. Near the end of lunch, Jenna pondered about her previous time at the falls.

"What are you thinking about Jenna?" asked Isaac, who could always tell when she was forming an idea. Furthermore, he could tell when it was a **good** idea, which was why he asked then.

"Well, when we were here last, Felix used his _Sand_ Psyenergy to reach a special beach. Then we jumped off onto a small ledge that had a cave in it; and I'm wondering if the flower would be there." Jenna explained, surprisingly accurately. Usually Jenna held a selective memory, rather than a detailed one.

"Well it's worth checking out at the least." Said Mia who had become, (like before) the leader of the group.

The Adepts quickly finished their meals and went back to the settlement and used Isaac's _Sand_ psyenergy to reach the usually inaccessible beach. After that they took a leap of faith onto the ledge Jenna had mentioned earlier. The Adepts walked through the falls into the cave, which due to the Golden Sun, had changed. Instead of an enclosed cave, it was as if a large part of Weyward had fallen off. It revealed the falls but no one would be able to see it from above. Beyond that there was a room on the other side of the rocky field underneath the Apojii. Mia sprinted to the room, feeling it within herself. She smashed through the dark entrance and looked around. It was slightly caved in. Mia began heaving rocks as quickly as she could. Eventually it revealed a small doorway about two feet tall and one foot wide. Mia went to the ground and looked in the hole. To her delight, the Mapolgi Flower was found.

"You have found it for me," Said a dark, ominous voice. Mia slowly turned around, worry creeping up her back. _Please don't be him, please don't be him! _Mia pleaded to herself. Unfortunately it was him. With his black armor and ominous black mask and sword, it was Mask standing before her with an outstretched hand. Mia could only stutter, she was so afraid that she couldn't even speak. "Just give it to me Mia." When Mia still made no move to give him the Mapolgi Flower, Mask sighed. "Very well Mia."

Instantly his sword was unsheathed and swinging at Mia. It was all Mia could do to move three inches before the quick slash cut into her arm. She screamed, but not at the blood gushing out. Rather she screamed because Mask had grabbed her by the neck. She was sure he was smiling behind that Mask. Mia wanted to smash his frickin face in, but she was powerless to stop him. He threw her all the way out of the room and into the main rock plain. She landed ten feet from the edge but the Mapolgi Flower hadn't. It was about ten inches from the ledge. Mia reached her hand out and screamed for help. The other Adepts were already moving. Ivan used his wind psyenergy to push the Mapolgi Flower back towards Mia, while Jenna rushed to help Mia up; meanwhile, in unison, Isaac and Matthew drew their swords and rushed at Mask. Chuckling to himself, Mask used _Warp_ to dodge moments before the blades crashed into his previous spot. "Pitiful." Mask said as he slammed his fists into the backs of his enemies. Both Adepts were slightly surprised at his attack. It was unusual for someone to teleport away.

Currently however, Mask warped himself again this time near Mapolgi Flower. Mia, realizing his intent on destroying the flower sent her arm out to protect it. Mask smirked inside his mask as he smashed his foot into her hand, fracturing bones in the process. But to Mia the sacrifice was worth it, the flower was safe. She felt Mask's black blade press against her neck, it brought out a single drop of blood. Mia looked behind Mask and saw Gaia Falls; she now had a plan. Closing her eyes, Mask figured she was awaiting his strike. What he didn't think of was the massive waterfall behind him. Mia opened her eyes and smiled. She had used three fourths of her psyenergy reserves to divert Gaia Falls into the cavern, soaking everyone and slamming Mask into a cavern wall. Mia had also covered the Mapolgi Flower with ice to stop its' death.

Mask was furious. How could Mia, a weak healer out smart him. Mask was determined to defeat these measly Adepts. With a wave of his hand, a large black blast of energy smashed into Ivan and Mia and Ivan, had it not been for Matthew and Isaac earth psyenergy; Mia and Ivan would have been thrown of Weyward! Instead they slammed into a newly erected earth wall. Mia was unconscious but Ivan still stood. He began rushing at Mask who was far away. Meanwhile Mask Warped in front of Jenna, who was unguarded at the moment, he pulled his blade back and went to pierce her heart. Instead, he pierced Matthew's.

At that Moment Ivan, (who had been training and learning ancient secrets since Sheba's death) rushed at Mask to hold him off. "MATTHEW!" screamed Jenna as she rushed to his side. Isaac rushed to his friends side as well, his fury growing stronger.

"Just hold on Matthew, we'll do everything we can, you'll be just fine" Isaac said. It was a lie, with Mia unconscious there wasn't anything they could do.

(A/N: the … in Matthew's dialogue are coughes)

"No, it's too late for me, Jenna.. I've seen the way you look… at Isaac." Tears welded up in Jenna's eyes as she heard him say this. She had realized it herself, but had also promised herself not to break his heart. "Jenna, it's okay, I… just want what's… best for you, and right now that's Isaac." With his last ounces of strength, he took Isaac's hand and put it with Jenna's. "You two… belong… together… goodbye." At that his head fell to the side and his hands lost strength, held up only by Jenna, Matthew was gone.

Now it was Isaac's turn to be furious. He clenched his hand and summoned the Gaia blade. From Jenna's perspective, he had a large and growing golden aura. What she didn't know was that it was the Golden Sun. Isaac, stalked towards Mask and Ivan (who was being defeated). He swung the Gaia blade and a line of Golden Aura went out and smashed into Mask, who staggered back, amazed at Isaac's power. The two sprinted at each other. Gold struck Black. Light struck Darkness. Both were powerful. Fortunately for Isaac, and unfortunately for Mask, the Golden Sun's power increased while displaying itself. So for now they were equals, but the longer the fight dragged on, the stronger Isaac would get. That when Mask decided to introduce a game-changer. Using his Venus Psyenergy, he shatter, the ground, creating an incline leading into the falls! Mask jumped onto some stone, and using his earth abilities, directed it to bring him to the surface. "YOU WILL NOT GET AWAY." bellowed Isaac, who used _Move_, to smash Mask back to the Adepts. At the same time he used earth psyenergy to secure his friends from falling. When Mask crashed onto the ground his mask was heavily cracked. Isaac sent out a powerful blast of the Golden Sun that crashed into Mask's mask and destroyed it revealing his identity. Everyone's mouth dropped open, but only Jenna spoke:

"_**FELIX?"**_

Author's Notes: CLIFFHANGER! Their fun The entire Tolbi destruction stuff is because Tolbi in the original golden gun was the most powerful city in Angara, but in Dark Dawn it isn't even mentioned, this is my reason why. There are probably only one or two chapters left and I'm going to do an epilogue that will be first person Isaac POV, and sorry for the long wait, I burnt myself out after non-stop writing the last chapter. Epic Pillowcase: Suggestions are awesome! They are really helpful and I know you aren't telling me how to right my own fic Oh, so keep up the suggestions. Thanks for your support


	11. Mask: The Preparations

**Chapter 12,**_** Mask**_**: The Preparations**

"Felix? But, how are you here, why are you here, what are doing here?" Jenna asked as a shock crept over her. She hadn't felt this devastated since Felix had 'died' five years ago. She felt confused, hurt and saddened.

"All will be answered in time, sister." His voice was different; Felix's normal voice was kind, yet tough. This voice was gruff, as if Felix was trying to intimidate them. Jenna could instantly tell she didn't like this Felix.

"Wait Felix, please. Just answer a few questions. Please Felix" She pleaded. Jenna didn't want this to be Felix. She wanted this to be a nightmare, that she would wake up and it would be the night after the festival, but no; this was life and it was painful. "Is this like last time Felix? Are you doing something for the greater good?"

Felix began to walk away as he answered. "No Jenna, it isn't like last time. Train hard sister, for soon my assault will begin, and I will not hesitate. Goodbye Jenna." Felix said as his body slowly dissolved in a warp. At that moment, Jenna fell to her knees, and began balling her eyes out. Isaac walked over to her and sat down next to her. She put her face into his shoulder and he wrapped his arms around her. He held her as she cried; cried over her brother's apparent betrayal and Matthew's death. Isaac held her as Mia and Ivan healed each other and created a make-shift coffin for Matthew. Eventual, the two became feed up with waiting and went to the surface via Ivan's Jupiter Psyenergy.

After an hour of being held, Jenna pulled herself together and together, she and Isaac left. They solemnly walked to Piers vessel and entered it. Isaac picked Jenna up and carried her to her bedroom, then he gently sat with her until she fell asleep. _She's beautiful_ Isaac reflected as he watched his love sleep. _I love you Jenna, you are my life_ Isaac thought. Isaac walked over to her blanket on the floor and put it on her, she shuffled as he put it on her. A strand of hair fell over her eyes and Isaac pushed it behind her ear with his hand. _So beautiful…_ Isaac thought as he drifted to sleep.

Jenna shrieked in terror as she saw Felix before her in Mask's armor. She was terrified; if her brother murdered Sheba then he definitely wouldn't hesitate against anyone. _Sheba had been like a sister to him; if he was willing to kill her… _Jenna didn't want to even think of what he would do to anyone else. Felix stood over her, smirking darkly, his eyes had a dark look to them as well. Felix took his sword out and raised it in front of him and smiled. He raised his black sword above his head and leaped high into the air. "GENESIS" He screamed with an ominous passion. Out of his dark blade, a massive black ball of energy leapt out of his sword. In the same style as Megiddo, he followed the blast down. Jenna screamed loudly, unable to do anything. Oddly, she didn't feel anything. Jenna opened her eyes and looked around. She was in the Apojii Inn, it was all a dream. Jenna let out a huge sigh of relief. She slowly looked to her right and saw Isaac asleep in a chair, holding Jenna's hand.

A single tear crawled out of her eye and slid down her cheek. This was her Isaac, **hers**; and she wasn't going to let anyone take him from her. Jenna shuffled over quietly, and rested her head onto his shoulder. Her head fit perfectly, as if it was destiny. Jenna smiled and fell back asleep, this time dreaming of her future with Isaac.

Mia was ecstatic. They had all four ingredients, at that moment, it didn't matter that Matthew had died. Garet would live and that was all Mia needed. She couldn't wait to get home. _Wow, home, that's what Garet is to me now…_ Mia thought. This wasn't exactly a happy thought, she had known and always planned on leaving New Vale. Her stay there was supposed to be temporary; but no. It had transformed into her home. The beautiful, young Mercury Adept officially didn't like this. Sure New Vale was fun and great, but Imil was her home. Her family lived there, her life was there; her foundation. So no, she did not like that New Vale was her home.

The next morning, Isaac awoke to feel something on his neck. Using his peripherals, he looked to his left and saw Jenna's head on his shoulder. Isaac smiled; a pure, genuine smile. He shook her just a little bit, hoping not to angry her, just to wake her. "Jenna?" He whispered.

"Wha *_yawn_* is it?" Jenna asked, apparently unaware, that she was making a fool of herself. Isaac laughed inside, but did his best to not say anything. Jenna shuffled and went back to sleep.

Isaac shook her again and said with a normal voice "wake up Jenna." This time it seemed to work, she moved and sat up, then rubbed her eyes. She looked at Isaac and blushed when she realized they were still holding hands.

"Sorry Isaac, I forgot where we were." Jenna said as an excuse. It was true, but still an excuse.

"It's okay. Um, Jenna, could we, um... go for a walk, I want to talk to you." Isaac awkwardly asked. Jenna giggled and readily nodded her head.

Together the young duo walked down to the beach of the Apojii Islands. It was beautiful place. The view was impeccable; one could look out into the sky and love the beauty of it. The roar of Gaia Falls attributed to the awesomeness as well. The sand beneath their toes felt great, as did the occasional wave that washed over their feet. Isaac couldn't think of a more perfect place to do what he was about to do.

"Jenna I wa-"

"No Isaac, let me talk. I wanted to say something first. I love you. I loved you when we were kids. I loved you when we were traveling together, I loved you when we were dating; Isaac I loved you even when I dated Matthew. That's why I overreacted when I saw you and Calsen." Jenna explained thoroughly. Isaac should have been shocked, except that he had been about to say the same thing.

"Jenna I-" but, Isaac was interrupted again, this time though, he didn't mind. Jenna had surged forward and planted her lips firmly on Isaac's. Then she grabbed his head and pulled him forward. Isaac was shocked momentarily, but then enjoyed it; he put his hands on her ribs and held her as they kissed. It seemed to last forever, and Isaac liked it like that.

Ivan had been having a pleasant day. He had had a beautiful dream about him and his secret girlfriend Feizhi, and had slept in. Then he had a simply breakfast and worked out for a short while. Then he went back to his room intending on studying more ancient techniques; instead, he unpleasantly discovered Mia.

"Ivan! Good you have returned. Will you please fetch Jenna and Isaac for me?" Ivan frowned in dismay; he didn't like intruding on couples. BUT, who could say no to the kind Mia. No one could, that's who.

"Okay Mia." Ivan said with a smile, although inside he felt annoyed and angered. Begrudged, Ivan began walking down the Apojii Beaches. After a few minutes of walking, Ivan discovered Jenna and Isaac together. They were lying on the ground together, Jenna kissing Isaac, with her hands on Isaac's cheeks. Isaac had his hands on her back, keeping her from swaying. Ivan shook his head. He REALLY hated intruding on couples; this was going to be embarrassing for everyone.

"Um, Guys?" Ivan asked as he braced himself for the awkwardness. Peeking a look, he saw that Isaac and Jenna were far apart, however they were still holding hands.

"Um, what is it Ivan?" Isaac coughed out, trying to contain the evident awkwardness.

"Mia told me to tell you two that we're leaving now."

"Like right now?" Jenna asked. The sadness evident in her eyes; it was just so perfect, the beaches and being together with Isaac again. If and when they returned she would have to deal with the Felix/Mask problem. To her dismay, Ivan nodded. Begrudged, Jenna and Isaac stood up, brushed some sand off their clothes, and walked with Ivan back to the Lemurian vessel.

XXX

Thrice Mia had caught Jenna and Isaac kissing together and frankly, she was getting sick of it. She was happy for them, but they had been kissing practically none stop. Which, put frankly, annoyed the hay out of Mia. After a day of the annoyingness, Mia learned to ignore it. She had the four ingredients, she could save Garet; and that was all that mattered at the moment.

During the three days to reach New Vale, Isaac spent a lot of time with Jenna; apparently making up for lost time. Every moment they could, they were kissing or hugging or holding hands or something, and Isaac loved every moment of it. He could tell Mia was getting irritated, so they tried to hide their actions a little better but didn't abandon their agenda. When they reached New Vale, they were forced to tell everyone of Matthew's death, but hid the fact of Mask's identity. Together they gathered the Warriors of Vale in Garet's house.

Before they arrived however, Mia went to Garet's'. She smiled upon seeing his closed calm face. Mia walked to her desk, pulled out a glass and thoroughly crushed the ingredients into liquid form. She walked over to Garet and pulled a chair over. She slipped her hand into Garet's which awoke him. He looked at her and smiled. Mia held up the cup and Garet's eyes widened. She put the glass to his mouth and slowly poured it into Garet's mouth.

"AWW, that sucks." Garet said moments after swallowing his drink. It tasted worse than anything else he had ever tasted. Then suddenly the pain went away. The excruciating pain went away; the pain that had been plaguing Garet for months on end. The pain that was killing him, the pain that was worse than anything else he ever felt; the pain that brought Mia to him. It was gone. "Mia... Thank you." It was all Garet could say; it was unbelievable. Sure she had said she would heal him, but Garet never actually believed her.

Mia felt a single tear flow down her cheek. Her Garet was back, the man she loved. She smashed her head into his shoulder, which no longer hurt Garet. The potion had worked amazingly. Mia looked at the glass still partially filled with the ancient potion. Mia hugged him as tight as she could. Garet put his hand under her chin and lifted her head up, and then he kissed her long and happily.

XxX

About two hours later, the other Warriors of Vale arrived. The group huddled around Garet's bed to have their discussion. "We have something we need to discuss." Jenna started, "It's about Mask."

"Wait Jenna, shouldn't we wait for Felix and Karst?" Piers asked. As soon as Piers asked his question Jenna burst into tears, her emotions had been held in check by her and Isaac's romance.

"Felix isn't coming Piers." Isaac said to Piers.

"Why not?" He asked.

"Because, Felix is Mask."

A silence took the room, the only sound was Jenna's soft sobs.

"How is that possible?" Kraden asked.

"I don't know, but it is true. I saw him myself." Isaac stated, knowing they sounded crazy. After a few minutes of silence, the Warriors of Vale left one by one each to their homes.

Jenna herself walked down to Felix's old cabin somehow feeling drawn to it. She eventually came to it after a short walk through the woods. She stopped before the door, gaining an ominous feeling. Slowly she opened the door and walked inside. There she saw Felix with a bag over his shoulder and his hair in a ponytail. "Felix! or should I call you Mask now?" Jenna questioned as she crossed her arms together.

"Whatever you prefer sister." Felix said. His voice was back to its original kind. It was no longer gruff and dark but the powerful strong voice he normally had.

"Why did you do this Felix? Why did you kill Sheba and Matthew? They didn't deserve it!" Jenna practically screamed at Felix.

"You wouldn't understand if I told you Jenna." Jenna walked up to Felix and slapped him hard across the face.

"Don't you DARE tell me that." Jenna commanded.

"I'm sorry. Jenna, Mask is coming to New Vale."

"You mean your coming to New Vale" Jenna screamed at him.

"In a way, yes. But that isn't the point, Jenna, Mask will destroy New Vale, he won't hold back at all." Felix grabbed Jenna and shook her hard, trying to knock some since into her. Jenna's eyes widened in realization; Mask was coming, he was going to destroy New Vale, her friends and family and her entire life.

"How long do we have?"

"Mask's attack begins at the Winter Solstice, which is in three months." With that, Felix disappeared through the back door. Jenna slumped back against the wall and put her heads to her knees and cried until she couldn't cry anymore.

XxX

Today was Garet's first day to walk around without any pain. He was doing fairly well from Mia's standpoint, except he was being whiny about it.

"But Mia, what if my legs give?" He asked, not wanting to walk at all.

"The potion cured you Garet, you'll be fine." Mia promised. She was beginning to get annoyed at Garet's whininess. It was completely out of his character, he was always the guy who would jump out of bed and try to run with two broken legs (It didn't turn out well). Now he was acting as though he were still in pain. Garet gave a face that meant 'I don't believe you but because you're my girlfriend I'll try' and stood. He was shaky at first, but was able walk for half an hour, before retiring to his bed. Although he had been healed, his stamina was not up to date. So, he had to take frequent brakes, and he seemed un-perturbed about it, which was very odd. Mia was becoming slightly worried, that his pain and suffering had changed him into a more, well, Mia-like person: patience and un-rash. To any other person it would have been nice to have a patient boyfriend, but to Mia it wasn't. Garet's recklessness and boldness were some of the attributes that Mia loved most about Garet. But, Mia was a patient person, so she decided she could wait out his new personality until he grew stronger and re-adopted his old personality.

XxX

It had been a month and it hadn't gotten better in the slightest, if anything, it was worse than before. Garet was scared, worried and completely unlike the Garet Mia had fallen in love with. It was because of his new personality that she was walked to his room to talk to him about it. He spent less time in bed these days, but it was only because Mia forced him to get out, not because he had any inclination of leaving his room.

"Garet, we need to talk." Mia said quietly; but she knew he still heard her.

"Okay, what about?" He asked.

"Why are you acting this way?"

"What way?"

She grew frustrated at that, "now you're a pansy, you used to be headstrong and rash and bold. Now you're a quivering, terrified little flake. What happened to _my_…-" She put her hand on her chest for emphasis. "-…Garet, the rash, bold, and headstrong Garet"

A long silence lasted between them.

"The Garet you knew is gone, I'm here now and that's all I can give you." It was strangely thoughtful, not something _her_ Garet would say. He would say something cliché. Something like 'I still love you Mia' but no, he didn't, he acted the opposite way.

"Well he isn't what I want." Mia walked away. She went down the river, she could think there; water was always a good place for Mercury Adepts. A little bit away she saw Piers, but she didn't think about him. She thought of her fight with Garet, and nothing more. Mia heard loud footsteps. She rolled her eyes, '_Great he's following me'_ thought Mia, as she slowed to a halt. Despite his bulky size, Garet would catch her, and there was no point in delaying the inevitable if you couldn't make it better. The steps stopped behind her, Mia gulped and turned around.

"Don't think you can walk away Mia." Garet commanded. She could tell he was trying to be like his old self, but it was no use. He wouldn't be the same, couldn't be the same.

"I already have Garet." Mia said despondently.

"No, I refuse to stand aside and watch another thing I love go away."

"Thing? You don't own me Garet!" Mia half-screamed.

"I know that, I didn't mean that, I, I just don't want to lose you Mia." He said.

"Were different people now Garet, it's time we shou-"

"NO, I won't let you Mia!" Garet screamed loudly; then he grabbed her hard, by the shoulders, and shook her violently. "I Love You Mia, You Can't Go!" It was the first time Mia ever felt frightened by Garet.

"Let. Her. Go."

Garet looked around, searching for an enemy, all he found was a punch to the head from behind; forcing him to let go of Mia.

"You should have listened to me."

Again, Garet searched, this time constantly turning around to avoid being hit from behind again, to no avail. For the second time he felt a fist smash into his skull.

"Leave."

Garet searched a third time, this time without spinning. Garet listened carefully and when he heard the wind blow from the strike, Garet turned, grabbed the arm of his assailant. Garet, with all his might, threw the assailant into the ground before Garet. When the dust and dirt cleared Garet saw the identity of his attacker: it was Piers.

"Why do you attack me Piers?" Garet asked. Mia scoffed at this, he was trying to negotiate. Garet and negotiating is an oxymoron.

"You hurt Mia, and I cannot allow that." Piers answered as he stood in front of Mia.

"I don't want to fight you Piers, but I will if you do not move right now."

There was a moment of silence, and then Garet spoke again.

"Very well," He said, "Let it begin." With that, Garet's first real fight (since being hurt by Alex) broke out.

Instantaneously, Garet had unsheathed his new blade, Vulcan's Might, and struck against Piers' Excalibur. Quickly, Piers teleported behind Garet, hoping to end the fight quickly; However Garet reached back, as if preparing for a strong attack, and blocked Piers' blow. Again, Piers teleported, this time in front of Garet, hoping to capture Garet unaware, unfortunately, Garet was ready. Having prepared his blow earlier, Garet swung down, smashing Vulcan's Might into the ground and unleashing a long line of flames that would have smashed into Piers had he not teleported away. Garet did a quick head turn, looking for Piers. Garet saw that Piers was standing, ankle deep, in the river which, probably boosted his Mercury Adept powers.

XxX

Piers was worried. Somehow, Garet had grown even more powerful despite having been sick for a long while. Before he was sick, Garet had been slower, and could hold out less against enemy attacks; however Garet's strikes were very strong. Then, like a hurricane, it struck Piers. _He held out for three months against unimaginable pain, of course his stamina has increased. This isn't good at all, I thought I would be able to dodge until he ran out of psyenergy, but that won't work. I will have to end this quickly._ With that thought, Piers did a back flip further into the river and closed his eyes. With a large amount of psyenergy, Piers summoned thee river up out of the riverbank, and sent it straight at the Mars Adept.

XxX

Garet watched in horror as the river rose up, and went straight at him. The blast completely drenched Garet, soaking his entire body as if he had just come out of a bath. The blast was so strong, that Garet lost his grip on Vulcan's Might. Luckily, red still stood out against the dying grass of winter. Garet ran to his blade, knowing that if Piers acquired it, then the fight would end. Rushing to the blade, Garet sent a blast of Mars Psyenergy at Piers, stopping the Mercury Adept from taking Vulcan's Might. Garet scooped up his sword and swung an arc, regaining his handle quickly.

With Vulcan's Might in hand, Garet sprinted down to Piers and swung. Piers, of course, teleported out of harm's way, and then quickly teleported back to end the fight. However, instead of knocking out Garet, Piers was blown back by _Pyroclasm_-Garet's signature psyenergy attack. Piers flew back with his tunic slightly scorched. While flying back, Piers teleported behind the Mars Adept and used Piers own momentum to smash both men to the ground. Both, Excalibur and Vulcan's Might tumbled a little ways away. Garet, with his immense strength, took Piers by the shoulders and painfully slammed him into the ground. Then, moving quickly, Garet jumped and put his knees on Piers' shoulders, trapping him there. Finally, Garet wailed on Piers, rapidly punching the Lemurien, punching so fast and so hard, that Piers was unable to teleport again. Ferociously, Garet continued punching Piers until Garet had bruised his own hands. Finally, Garet readied himself for a final punch, pulling his arm back far, only to strike the dirt: Piers had teleported again. Garet pulled his hand out of the small crater he had made and turned to the Mercury Adept. To Garet's horror, Piers was holding both, Excalibur and Vulcan's Might. Garet smiled to himself, Vulcan's Might had unleash unlike any other. Softly he spoke the words. "Kamikaze Inferno." Vulcan's Might erupted into a massive firestorm, completely engulfing Piers. The blast engulfed Garet too, but he was immune to the attack because he had caused it. Garet had also made sure that he protected Mia from the blazing storm of fire, subtly using psyenergy to keep the firestorm away from her.

To Garet's amazement, Piers was still standing. _Must be because he's a Mercury Adept _Garet thought as he walked down to Piers. The man's shirt had been burnt off, and his hair had a few singes, but had mostly been put out, his short's hadn't been badly burnt, which was a good thing, because Garet had no interest in seeing Piers naked. Excalibur had not even one scratch, surprising Garet. The Mars Adept walked closer, slightly intrigued as to how Piers survived the suicide attack. To his steadily increasing surprise, Piers spoke and shot Garet a angry gaze. "I won't let you win." Garet matched Piers' gaze.

"I told you I didn't want to fight."

"We are now Garet."

"You GUYS please, stop it, I don't want anyone else hurt. PLEASE stop fighting." Both men turned to see Mia running up to them. Her eyes were red from crying, Piers cringed slightly at seeing her in this way, but tried not to show it; apparently Mia didn't notice it. She rushed to Piers, and began pouring her healing psyenergy into him, relieving him of many burns, warping his overheated body, and eradicating the dark bruises on his normally perfect skin.

While being healed, Piers gripped Excalibur tightly. He had to admit, he was surprised Garet went to such lengths to defeat Piers. _I would have died, _though Piers_ had I not been a Mercury Adept_. After most of his burns were dealt with, he teleported Mia away, back to New Vale, and then rushed at Garet. The blades met, and stayed at a standstill, neither Adept able to overpower the other.

XxX

Mia sprinted as fast as she could back to the lake, nearly smashing into Jenna and Isaac on the way. She apologized quickly and then kept running, hoping that the fighting duo hadn't killed each other yet. Out of the corner of her eye, Mia saw Isaac and Jenna shrug and then run after Mia. Mia smiled to herself, she could always count on her friends… well sort of. When Mia returned to the battlefield, she saw Piers and Garet with their swords locked in place, unmoving.

XxX

Garet felt as though he were losing, although it wasn't true, he wasn't losing or winning. He and Piers were stuck, sword to sword, both pushing as strong as they could, but it wasn't making a difference. Normally Garet would win a fight of strength, but right now he was tired and Piers had just been healed, so it wasn't completely fair. Unfortunately, Garet felt his muscles hurt, his ribs sting, and his small cuts singe from the power - he was losing strength and adrenaline. Now, Garet saw that he couldn't win at the moment. His grip faltered, Piers pushed with renewed strength.

Somehow, during this moment where he saw he would lose, something came to his mind. Some words Isaac told him long ago, back in the muddled days of pain. _'It is slightly stronger, in terms of power, than Piers' Excalibur.' _The thought entered Garet's mind like a flash of lightning, and like healing psyenergy, renewed him. Garet, with his last bit of strength, push with all his might. Piers, surprised at Garet's outburst, fell back and lost his footing. Garet, turned in a circle to gain momentum, and then swung at Excalibur. The powerful attack sent Excalibur across the battlefield and through the air, where it landed in Isaac's outstretched hand. Garet continued unnerved, swinging at Piers' head, and only at the last possible second, shifting his blade to its' flat side. The attack smashed into Piers' skull, knocking him unconscious instantly. Then, Garet sheathed Vulcan's Might and slowly walked away. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mia and Jenna rush to Piers to heal him. Meanwhile, Isaac walked with Garet.

"What just happened?" Isaac asked, bewildered.

"I knocked Piers unconscious." Replied Garet, it wasn't the answer Isaac was looking for.

"Why? He's your friend, isn't he?" Isaac asked, obviously confused.

"I needed to talk to Mia, and he got in my way."

"So you try to kill him?"

"No I… I needed to talk to Mia… I told him I didn't want to fight him."

"Garet," Isaac put a hand on Garet's shoulder, causing him to stop. "Why did you need to talk to Mia?"

"Because," Garet faltered, but just briefly. "Because she said she didn't want to date me anymore."

There was a small moment of awkward silence.

"Garet, it will be okay. There are other fish in the sea." At Garet's blank look, Isaac continued. "You know, other woman in the world."

"Yeah, but none like Mia" When Isaac didn't say anything, Garet translated what he was saying into something Isaac would grasp. "You have Jenna, and to you Jenna's perfect in every way. Well Mia is my Jenna."

"I'm sorry Garet, but, maybe she'll come around. You're a great guy."

"Yeah, and maybe the Anemos will come back and attack everyone." Garet said sarcastically. Then he rolled his eyes and began walking again.

Isaac slapped his hand to his head, then shook his head. This Garet was strangely serious, far from the goofy nature of the old Garet. _What am I going to do with you Garet,_ thought Isaac.

XxX

The next two months passed by slowly. Things between Mia and Garet had only gotten worse. If Mia entered a room Garet was in, then she left immediately. The only exceptions were town meetings or Warriors of Vale meetings. Piers almost always stood with Mia, he had practically become her bodyguard. Garet wasn't exactly depressed, but it seemed as though he had quit caring about life. He would leave town to party, gorge himself with food and get drunk. Frequently Isaac would leave and bring Garet back. Mia herself hated seeing Garet do this because two people had given their lives to saving him. By Garet being reckless, he was dulling the sacrifice of Sheba and Matthew.

Along with the Mia-Garet drama, was the dilemma of Mask's Coming. The Winter Solstice was only a week away, meaning Mask would be coming soon. The Warriors of Vale had been in training, but hadn't gained any significantly great power since their last bout with Mask. The Warriors of Vale had also begun preparing the town for the coming battle. They built wooden pikes, and created a wooden wall with sharp pikes at the top, around the entire town. It hadn't even taken very long either, due to psyenergy. Beyond the simple wall, the Adepts had constructed a stronghold for the villagers near the ruins of Mt. Aleph, just in case. They had also moved Piers ship far upstream, in walking distance from the stronghold, so that they could sail away if the battle took a turn for the worse. Although the Warriors of Vale had been training physically, others trained in different ways.

Jenna had been preparing herself mentally for the battle with her brother. It had eradicated her defenses when she had learned of his identity, and now that she would have to actually try to kill him… it was preposterous. If it came down to it, Isaac thought she wouldn't do it, she wouldn't kill her brother. That was part of her personality, although she sometimes had a horrible temper, she stayed loyal to the end. Jenna continually told herself that if she saw an opening in Mask's- no Felix's defenses, then she would exploit it. Jenna had to, to not kill Mask was to spit on Sheba and Matthew's memory… wasn't it?

Isaac had prepared himself for his inevitable confrontation with Felix. Other than Felix, Isaac had been the strongest Warrior of Vale, so it would probably fall to Isaac to stop Mask. Isaac had taken to waking up early, gathering a small amount of food, and then leaving to train with either Jenna or Garet for the rest of the day. Isaac and his sparring partner would return in the afternoon. Usually Jenna and Isaac would then hang out for the remaining portion of the day. Isaac didn't like his current schedule, but knew that it was definitely necessary. Isaac knew that he would have to defeat Mask, if only in Sheba and Matthew's memory.

Garet prepared himself by having two alternating days. He would either leave to train with Isaac for the day, or he would sleep most of the day away. He was actually growing much stronger, Garet had regained all of his previous strength, and now he was surpassing his old self. Garet knew that he probably wouldn't be able to defeat Mask, but Garet also knew that he would have to try. To not try would be to demolish Sheba and Matthew's memory.

Mia prepared herself by trying to put to rest the thoughts that plagued her mind. This wasn't her town, so why did she stay? Sure earlier she thought it might become her town, but there wasn't any chance of that anymore. Mia could see that her old Garet wasn't coming back anytime soon; probably not ever coming back. Ultimately, Mia had to stay, she wouldn't allow herself to leave; to do so would be spitting on Sheba and Matthew's graves.

Piers had prepared himself through physical and mental training. He frequently spared with Ivan or Mia. He had been growing stronger, Piers was definitely stronger than before, but not strong enough to defeat Mask all on his own. Despite having his time taken up with physical training, Piers also had time to think of why he was staying; then, it hit him. This town was his now. He had been banished from Lemuria, and (for now) his home was with his friends. He had enjoyed the people here. They were a kind and gentle people, never arrogant or greedy. Piers had recently discovered that he had fallen in love with, not just Mia, but with New Vale itself. Despite Felix and Piers being close friends, he was more than ready to kill Mask. Mask had killed Sheba, poor and innocent Sheba, for that he deserved death.

Ivan had prepared himself by studying and training. In the mornings, Ivan studied his ancient scrolls, and in the afternoon, he dueled with Piers. Ivan surprised himself, he was actually gaining strength. He knew that he wasn't going to be able to stop Mask, but Ivan also knew he had to try. To be honest, Ivan had been hoping to find some ancient technique in an old scroll; but he was having no such luck. The best he could find was a scroll that gave you perfect hair forever. Ivan noticed that that particular scroll wasn't too old, and was in fact written by Alex himself. Despite not finding some new technique, Ivan knew he still had to go to the fight and do his best. To not do his best was to look down upon Sheba and Matthew's graves.

The last week passed quickly, everyone putting the final touches on their techniques. It was like cramming for one of Kraden's tests, thought Isaac as he lay in bed one night. Feeling his stomach growl, he slipped out of his bed, and went down stairs. He took out a small glass and poured himself a glass of milk. Afterwards, Isaac walk quietly back to his bed and lay in it. However, before he could fall asleep, Isaac heard a knock at his window. Isaac smiled as he saw Jenna there. Quickly he opened the window and let her in. Instantly she tackled him with a hug and hid her face in his bare shoulder.

"I'm not looking forward to tomorrow." Jenna said between her soft sobs.

"It will be okay Jenna, we'll save Felix, maybe he has another motive, like last time." Isaac said as he hugged her tight and desperately thought of more lame excuses.

"And maybe Kraden will get married." Jenna said sarcastically.

"Jenna, it _will_ be okay." Isaac said it with such passion, that Jenna believed him. So instead of worrying, she kissed him passionately, as though it was destined to be their last. Ultimately, they had to pull back for air. Romantically, they leaned their heads against each other and held hands.

"I love you Jenna."

"I love you Isaac."

After a time, the duo relaxed, Jenna leaned against him and fell asleep. Sweetly, Isaac laid Jenna on the bed and covered her with covers, then he went to lay down on the rug in the center of the room. Isaac fell asleep, and his consciousness drifted.

Isaac heard a pantheon of voice and saw flashes of people.

"Stay strong." Isaac's parents said.

"We love you." The people of Vale shouted.

"Good Luck." Calsen said with a smile.

"I believe in you." Sheba whispered.

"You can do it Isaac, I know you can." Matthew shouted out.

"You can do it." Kraden said with an amused smile.

"Best wishes Isaac." Alex spoke.

"With the Golden Sun, not even the Apocalypse can stop you Isaac." The Wise One loudly spoke out

"I love you." It was Jenna; Isaac saw an image of blood and cringed; he would not let anyone hurt her.

Finally, the images stopped. He was looking at darkness, complete darkness. Slowly his eyes saw the outline of a person. Somehow, Isaac already knew who it was. Isaac watched as the outline spoke.

"I'm looking forward to our battle tomorrow, Isaac." It was Felix; the gruff evil Felix, not the kind-hearted one Isaac knew. As Isaac opened his mouth to reply he awoke to Jenna's beautiful face.

"Isaac, wake up, it's time for breakfast." Slowly he stood and walked to his dresser. Jenna walked down stairs to help Dora with the meal while Isaac clothed himself. After getting dressed, Isaac went down the stairs into the kitchen; he ate a hardy meal and then began walking with Jenna around town. It was the Winter Solstice, and that was when Felix said the invasion was to begin.

As the two walked around town, they conversed, talking about various subjects, although none were truly important. After a long while walking, it was noon, which meant lunch. The young couple went to the inn, which doubled as a restaurant. The two had a quick meal and then continued scouring the town. After an hour of walking, the duo took a break in front of the bridge where they had met for the festival, so long ago. After a short break, they heard screaming. After exchanging a quick look, they rushed to the source, a young woman in front of the large psyenergy stone in the center of town.

Above the stone, was a huge portal of… darkness? Standing directly in front of the stone stood Felix in his full black armor, minus his (now signature) mask. He had his black sword in hand. Behind Felix was Karst, with a black armored suit with a red trim. She looked quite menacing in her new armor. Together the duo looked battle ready. As the young, screaming woman stood there motionless, Karst swung with her scythe, and plunged the sharpened weapon into the woman's heart.

_**The coming was now.**_

EpicPillowcase: Thanks, your support is awesome, it's a HUGE encouragement to write, and I'm just curious but, why not Dark Dawn? Anyway I'm thinking one chapter and the epilogue then I'm done. If/when I make a sequel it will probably be called _Pain of Darkness_. Just a note, I have started editing this fic to make the chapters better because my first six chapters were pretty much horrible and the rest really need a good edit. I have finished chapter one and uploaded it so you may want to reread it. I finished chapter two but need to wait to finish the rest of the _Beginning_ arc before I will upload it. Piers will make more since if you go back and read the edited chapters, cause the part with him and Mia came out of nowhere pretty much, so I'm going to try to make it make more sense. I should note, that I am going to change some of Isaac's dialogue back when he is giving Garet Vulcan's Might.


	12. Mask: The Coming

**Chapter 12,**_** Mask**_**: The Coming**

Karst stepped forward and plunged her scythe into the screaming woman's heart, the first kill of the invasion. She smiled a dark smile, confident in her newfound strength. Quickly, she unleashed a massive explosion of fire, setting New Vale aflame. Apparently, someone had heard the woman's scream, as loud alarms were going off, plus Isaac and Jenna had shown up. Ignoring the Warriors of Vale, Karst warped away into the crowds running to shelter. Karst, in the middle of the crowd, simply swung her scythe around; butchering the Valeans in the process. Within moments, Karst was covered in the blood she had spilt. The Mars Adept smiled as she finished her countless strikes, but noticed a problem, both Mercury Adepts had arrived to fight her.

Piers drew Excalibur and went into his fighting stance, while Mia took out Atropos' Rod. Karst readied her scythe and swung at Mia. Quickly the female Mercury Adept raised Atropos' Rod and blocked the attack, and then Mia rotated her staff in a three-hundred and sixty degree arc, stopping Karst from swinging again. Instead of striking with her scythe, Karst let loose a massive blast of fire, completely engulfing the young Warrior of Vale; simultaneously, Karst blocked an attack from Piers by swinging her scythe behind her back. Piers swung low trying to cut off Karst's legs. He was gambling, Karst noticed, because he swung too quickly and he was off balance. However, his gamble didn't pay off. Karst rapidly back flipped up and over Excalibur and then swung her scythe down into Piers' chest. Or at least that's what should have happened. Instead, Piers teleported behind Karst at the last possible second, allowing the Lemurien to strike Karst in the back. The attack shattered Karst's spine, and she fell to the ground. Piers breathed in and out slowly, and then sheathed his sword. Slowly walking over to the body, the Lemurien kneeled to check her pulse… a terrible move on his part. Just before he touched her, darkness swirled out of Karst's scythe and into her body. Instantly her wounds were healed, and her shattered spine was re-attached. Quickly, she put her hand on Piers' chest and unleashed a powerful blast of Mars Psynergy, launching Piers far into the air. Standing up slowly, Karst looked around for a new target, but was unable to find one. The Mercury Adepts had stalled just long enough for the Valeans to escape. Karst let out a feral growl and picked up her scythe. Afterwards, Karst sprinted towards Felix.

XXX

Before the two Venus Adepts began their fated battle, Isaac ushered Jenna away. Then Isaac rushed towards Felix, hoping to end the battle as quick as possible. The duo locked eyes for a moment, and Isaac noticed that Felix had a dark glow in his eyes. Shrugging it off, Isaac swung high with the Gaia Blade, only to be met by Felix's black sword. Felix smirked and sliced at Isaac's knees; the blade being blocked just in time to avoid amputation. Quickly, Isaac rolled backwards to dodge a second strike from the fearsome warrior. Again he narrowly avoided pain. With great force, Isaac swung forward, smashing into Felix's black sword and sending the older Adept back several feet. Closing his eyes, Isaac concentrated and unleashed the Titan Blade. Just as Felix readied himself for a sprint, the blade came crashing out of the sky. Instead of dodging, Felix stared at Isaac, both pair of eyes unmoving. Isaac watched in shock as the blade exploded in Felix. Isaac blinked. The blast was gone. Felix was gone.

XXX

Jenna was scared. Her boyfriend and her brother were fighting, probably to the death and there wasn't anything she could do about it. Although worried, Jenna hid it surprisingly well, and simple stared in awe as she watched her favorite people in the world fight to the death. Jenna cringed when she saw Isaac prepare the Titan Blade. She cringed more when it enveloped Felix. A single tear fell down her cheek, and then she felt dreadful pain in her cheek. Smashing onto the ground, Jenna turned around and rolled just in time to dodge Karst's scythe. Jenna's sadness quickly turned into pure, unadulterated anger, as she fired of her most powerful beam at Karst. Karst flew a hundred feet before skidding to a stop. The Proxian stood quickly and launched out one of Agatio's trademark moves: Rising Dragon. Jenna was sent high into the air before crashing down onto the ground. Slowly, Karst approached her downed opponent. Poking her with the scythe, Karst smirked. She had won, easily too! Unfortunately for Karst, Jenna wasn't downed; in fact, she unleashed a fiery, powerful blast of Mars Psynergy.

Now it was Karsts' turn to be angry. Rising like a storm, Karst seemed to have an aura of fire around herself. Jenna quickly drew her sword Phaeton's Blade and blocked a strike from Karst's scythe. Karst went unperturbed and swung again, this time slicing through Jenna's shoulder as though it were paper. Then Karst swung low and sliced into Jenna's kneecap. Jenna quickly drank a potion, which instantly healed her wounds. Then she sent Phaeton's blade into Karst's thigh. Karst hollered in pain and grasped Jenna by the neck. Then, Karst warped herself and Jenna away to the New Vale graveyard. Ferociously, Karst threw Jenna into a gravestone, giving a bruise to Jenna's skull. With a furious anger, Karst slammed her scythe into the ground and began shouting forbidden words.

Suddenly, a ring of fire sprouted around Karst. A second later, Jenna remembered that the fire combined with certain forbidden words was part of a ritual. However, Jenna realized it a second too late. The second was just long enough for Karst to summon back the spirits of the dead, and bound them to their decayed bodies. Jenna was a second too late to save her dead friends and family. But what Jenna was most upset about, was potentially worse. She had been a second too late, and would therefore have to face her closest friend: Sheba.

Sheba's body had decayed. Her skin was obviously torn open in several areas along with torn clothes and, in some select areas, bones poking out. The worst was Sheba's face. It had no markings on it, no bruises or scratches, only a look of sorrow, and darkness seemed to be in her eyes. Instantaneously, Jenna became disgusted and launched a magnitude of Beams at her friend.

Although several of the beams hit Sheba, none seemed to do any significant damage; confusing Jenna. Unfortunately for the Mars Adept, Sheba sprinted forth and smacked her staff into Jenna's head. Jenna flew through the air, in a muddled confusion; unable to figure out how exactly her friend had come back. After a few more moments of flying, Jenna slammed into the ground and rolled until she hit a tree. After slowly standing up, Jenna saw a storm approaching; a storm of lightning and plasma, and Sheba was in the middle of it all. Jenna watched as her best friend floated a mere two feet above the ground, however with lightning and thunder sounding and small raindrops pouring, Sheba had become a fearsome sight.

Closing her eyes momentarily, Jenna summoned a Mars Djinn of protection. Its aura surrounded her momentarily, and then faded away. Jenna then opened her eyes and sprinted at Sheba. Jenna unsheathed Phaeton's Blade as she ran. Quickly, the Mars Adept leaped high into the air, and unleashed a second Djinn, this time a attack boosting one. As she landed, Jenna plunged Phaeton's blade into Sheba's arm. Sheba responded with a large blast of plasma at Jenna, rolling her ten feet away. Then Sheba flew high and unleashed a tornado of plasma straight at Jenna. The Mars Adept was sucked in and electrocuted repeatedly. Jenna could feel her cloak being sizzled; she could see the tiny hairs on her arm being burned away. She felt the metal in her ears super heating. Jenna could feel that her hands were burning, but the worst part of it all? The smell. The smell of her own flesh burning to death, that was the worst part of it all.

When the plasma tornado finally finished, Jenna barely had the strength to stay conscious, let alone fend off Sheba. With a tear in her eye, Jenna accepted it all. she would die here, at the behest of her best friend. Jenna watched as Sheba drew near for the death blow. However, the Mars Adept noticed something, Phaeton's Blade was still in Sheba's shoulder, and it was glowing slightly. That could only mean one thing; it was ready to be unleashed. All Jenna had to do was touch the blade! Jenna knew it was a long shot, but it was her only hope. Jenna waited for Sheba to arrive, and then played dead. Sheba poked Jenna with her staff, then hit Jenna really hard, trying to tell if she was dead or not. Unfortunately for Sheba, Jenna chose that time to touch Phaeton's Blade, unleashing the Light Surge. Several beams of light smashed into Sheba, who became paralyzed from the light present in her. Ultimately, she fell to the ground, completely unconscious, as did Jenna.

XXX

Isaac was in shock, it could not have been that easy, and yet, it was. He had called out the Titan Blade and Felix was now gone. The blast had obliterated him. Yet, Felix had always been the stronger of the Venus Adepts, every time the duo sparred, Felix won. Usually, Felix won fairly easily. So how could it be that Isaac, the loser, had been able to defeat Felix, the winner, easily? Logically it made no since, which was why Isaac still held the Gaia Blade in his hands.

Isaac soon realized that he was correct in being worried, mainly because he felt his face connect with the ground. Isaac quickly rolled to his right, dodging Felix's next strike; one that would have killed him. Isaac rapidly used his Psynergy to launch himself into the air, doing a back flip in the process. Being far enough away, Isaac decided to use words against Felix.  
"Why are you doing this Felix?" Isaac asked quickly. Because no words came out of Felix's mouth, Isaac spoke again. "How did you survive the Titan Blade? It engulfed you!" Isaac raged as he swung wildly at Felix's black blade. Isaac's rage grew stronger as he heard Felix laughing.

"It was so easy Isaac. I simply warped away, besides, even if your blast had engulfed me it wouldn't have come close to killing me. It would require much more power than that." Felix replied in his dark menacing Mask-voice.

In his rage, Isaac unleashed Flint, and Geode. The former stabbed at Felix, and did little damage. The latter slammed into Felix, and exploded in power; causing damage to Felix. Quickly Isaac followed up with Vine, momentarily trapping Felix. Isaac finished his rampage by using Bane, and poisoning Felix. Finally, Isaac unleashed a second Titan Blade, this one striking Felix directly in the gut. Felix groaned and coughed out some blood. Then his eyes glowed black and he raised his sword up, the vines holding him down seemed to burn away. Jumping high into the air, Felix screamed out "**EDEN**" before descending with a massive ball of dark energy.

The blast engulfed Isaac and probably would have killed him, had Ivan not used the Jupiter Djinn Haze to make Isaac invulnerable, though briefly. Isaac himself looked shocked to be alive. There was a ten foot crater where Isaac was standing. Ultimately, Isaac decided to make lemonade out of the lemons that life had just handed him. Quickly, Isaac slammed the Gaia Blade into the ground, closed his eyes and summoned Judgment. The potent summon of Venus slowly arrived at the battlefield. The behemoth raised its blade and unleashed a massive blast of energy, one so strong; it seemed to mirror the moon. Felix warped away, but Ivan followed the Venus Adept using the Teleport Lapis, and teleported the Venus Adept back to New Vale and Judgment's blast.

Isaac opened his eyes and looked around; Ivan was still standing, which was a good sign. Felix slowly stood up. Isaac noticed that the blast had destroyed the armor around Felix's right arm, also a good sign. Unfortunately, Felix looked very pissed. His face told the entire story. He had actually been wounded, and it had angered him beyond belief.

XxX

Garet had heard the alarms and had lazily unsheathed Vulcan's Might and left the comfort of his home. Garet was lucky; he had left just in time to not get demolished. The second that Garet left the house, it was destroyed by a powerful blast of Mars Psynergy; unleashed by Karst. Garet raised his sword in a defensive stance. Garet and Karst began circling around, each waiting for the other to make a move.

Finally, Karst made a move. It was swift, brutal and strangely, graceful. She leapt high into the air, and twisted elegantly over the large Mars Adept. Landed on both feet behind Garet, Karst turned around and plunged her scythe into Garet's shin, causing blood to pour out. Garet grunted, but the pain was nowhere near as painful as before; therefore Garet shrugged the blow off, willing the pain to go away. This was a fight for his home; he would **not **allow his home to fall because he was scared. Garet ducked and turned, dodging a blast of fire from Karst, and allowing Garet the chance to attack his opponent.

Garet swung up, just barely slicing into the Karst's leg. The blade would have gone further, but Karst had warped out of the way. She appeared behind Garet and swung her scythe again. Garet swung Vulcan's Might behind his back, blocking the strike. Surprisingly quick for being such a large man, Garet swung his fist, cracking her nose and sending her back a few steps. Karst was surprised, she hadn't been straight up punched since she lived with Saturos and Menardi. Since she was momentarily stunned, Garet followed up with a second attack. Garet kicked her in the stomach, hard. Garet was pretty sure he heard her ribs crack; he followed up with a third attack, this time with Vulcan's Might.

Garet took two large steps forward and swung. However, Karst raised up her scythe in order to block Vulcan's Might. Shockingly, Vulcan's Might shattered Karst's scythe. The weapon exploded in a dark blast of energy, sending both Mars Adepts backwards. The dark glow in Karst's eyes disappeared and she lost consciousness instantly. Garet made sure that Karst was unconscious before allowing himself to slip out of consciousness.

XXX

Isaac was worried. Felix now had a dark aura surrounding him. Isaac was fairly certain that Felix was now unleashing his full power, a power that could easily destroy New Vale. Isaac positioned the Gaia Blade in a defensive manner and held it steady, despite his abundant fear. Breathing in and out, Isaac readied himself for defeat, because Isaac knew that he could not win. Finally ready, Isaac set all of his Djinn back, and healed himself as well.

Felix flew into Ivan in a flash; instantaneously Ivan was thrown to the ground. Felix kept going, ultimately smashing into Isaac. The two Venus Adepts rolled together, with Felix continually wailing punches on Isaac. When the duo stopped rolling, Felix did a back flip and pulled out his own blade. Isaac charged with the Gaia Blade, attacking with great power and strength. The Gaia Blade and Felix's dark blade met, both extremely powerful, and both seeking victory. While in the stalemate, Ivan summoned down a plasma storm, electrocuting Felix and giving Isaac the edge that he needed. Utilizing adrenaline-filled power, Isaac rushed forward and slammed the Gaia blade onto Felix's forearm; shattering the armor on Felix's right arm.

"I can't let you win Felix. I can't let you destroy our home." Isaac said, as he raised the Gaia Blade up.

"Look around Isaac, it already is." Felix replied.

Isaac took a moment and looked around, the large pavilion had crashed down, the city hall had collapsed, and the large Psynergy stone had a large crack in it as well. The sight was enough to bring tears to Isaac's eyes… and with it came anger.

Faster than ever before, Isaac moved towards Felix, slamming the Gaia Blade into Felix's shoulder, and then sliding in between Felix's legs, while simultaneously yanking out the Gaia Blade. Using the earth itself to help go faster, Isaac summoned a spire of earth, and had a hand on it, pulling the younger Venus Adept to his feet in the blink of an eye. In his rage, Isaac swung as hard as he could against Felix's armor, sending a tremor throughout New Vale and a large crack in Felix's armor.

Unfortunately, Felix retaliated. Warping quickly, Felix swung down with his blade straight into Isaac's back. Felix spun around and swung again, this time aiming to behead his opponent. Isaac screamed in pain as he rolled forward to dodge Felix's second strike. Felix screamed out and sent hundreds of earth spires at Isaac. Going on instinct alone, Isaac shattered several of the spires with the Gaia Blade, and destroyed many by summoning up his own spires finally, Isaac dodged many as well. Unfortunately, he also missed several.

Isaac leapt high into the air, smashing three spires in the process, while falling, he summoned up twenty or so of his own spires and sent them at Felix's spires. Isaac landed and rolled, barely going under a few of the attacking spires. Then Isaac summoned his own spire, and held onto it, intending on launching himself high into the air. However, one of the attacking spires smashed into Isaac's, sending the young Venus Adept onto the ground. Opening his eyes, a second spire crashed into him... followed by a third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh.

Isaac was defeated. The many spires had broken several bones, and had also torn most of his shirt. Isaac had almost no energy left, and couldn't feel his left arm, which, was at an odd angle. Isaac had blood on his ears, mouth, arms, a little on his legs and a lot covering his face and chest. If it wasn't bleeding, then it was bruised or broken. Reaching into his pack, Isaac pulled out a small potion. Pulling off the cap, he raised it to his lips only for it to be shattered by Felix's blade.

"You won't win Felix. Even if you kill me, others will kill you." Isaac coughed up blood after his sentence.

"Isaac, do you have any idea the power in me?" Felix asked. When Isaac shook his head, Felix continued. "The power in me is so great that I could fight Alex and defeat him by myself. I could wage war against the world and succeed." Felix stood confidently, although he still retained his dark evil voice.

"Why Felix? Why would you do that? Why come here and slaughter us? Why have you become darkness? Is there a threat like last time? Something that is making you turn against us in order to save us? Just tell us, please" Isaac stumbled out.

Felix gave a blank look before shaking his head wildly.

"Remember my trip to Prox?" Felix asked, in his normal, gruff but kind voice.

"Yeah"

"I fought Agatio there; but he was different, he was somewhere between dead and alive. There was some strange force keeping him alive. Karst and I defeated Agatio, but afterwards, he sent something into us. The dark power that resided in Agatio went into the two of us."

"So something is controlling you?" Isaac asked.

Felix slowly nodded his head. "It fuels my strength, and granted me the Luna Blade." Felix held up his black sword, the Luna Blade.

"Well, what is it?" Isaac asked nervously.

"It is Apocalypse, the destroyer of the Old Civilization. Apocalypse is the dark half of Alchemy, while the Golden Sun is the light of Alchemy." Felix stopped at the astonished look on Isaac's face. However, upon realizing what Isaac was shocked about, Felix explained more. "Everything has a dark side, even Alchemy. Apocalypse is darkness, and it uses all darkness. He can take darkness, put it in you, and increase it to a point where it taints your very existence, and once you have been tainted, it won't leave until you are dying."

Isaac simply stood there, shocked at what he was hearing. "Why will it leave when you're dying?"

"Because, it's a portion of Apocalypse's power, and he doesn't want his power diminished." As Felix was speaking, he took out two small vials and put them in Isaac's hand. "You'll need all the help you can get to stop us, and believe me; I want you to stop us."

"Thank you Felix, but why is Apocalypse only coming back now? Why not earlier?" Isaac asked as he drank the vials quickly. Isaac watched in fascination as his broken body mended itself. Broken bones were healed, fused back together in their correct place. Destroyed skin came together; lost teeth came back, scratches and gashes healed into scars. Deep stab wounds turned into large scars, lost energy was restored.

Felix chuckled. "Because, when Alchemy was sealed away, so was Apocalypse, they are one in the same, it's probably why the ancient Adepts sealed away Alchemy, although there may have been others reasons as well."

"How is it that you can resist it?" Isaac asked.

"Because I'm used to it, and have been trying to refuse his power. He wants me to be his host, so he doesn't want me destroyed. He could overload my will and possess me, but it would destroy me in a matter of minutes. For me to become his host, I have to be used to his power."

"So basically, after using a lot of his power you have to cool down a bit?"

"Yes exactly."

There was a moment of silence as neither was sure what to do next.

"Well what do we do now?" Isaac asked.

"We fight." Felix said in his dark evil voice.

XXX

Jenna woke up slowly, exhausted beyond belief from a simple battle. Her memory coming back to her, Jenna looked around the destroyed cemetery. Jenna looked and saw Sheba, convulsing and bleeding badly. Jenna ran over to her best friend, kneeled on the ground next to her, and took Sheba's hand. Simply looking at her told Jenna that the darkness was gone; her face no longer had a dark look, and there wasn't an ominous power in the Jupiter Adept anymore. Sheba's fate seemed to be one of the worst possible fates. She died to save her friends, was resurrected by evil to kill the friends she saved and now, when the darkness was gone, she was dying again.

"Jenna." Sheba said softly.

"Yes Sheba, I'm here for you." Jenna said as she squeezed Sheba's hand.

"Did my sacrifice ma- ma- matter?" She asked slowly.

"Yes, we got the other ingredients and saved Garet with the potion." Jenna replied. "Wait a second, THE POTION! WE STILL HAVE MORE! Stay alive Sheba, I'll be right back."

Sheba nodded slowly, but Jenna could tell that she wouldn't last much longer.

Jenna ran faster than she had ever run before. She passed by numerous corpses, and the unconscious forms of Garet and Karst, but none of that mattered right now, what matter was getting the potion. Jenna sprinted into Garet's house, turned down the hallway and rushed up stairs. Seeing the half filled potion, Jenna took it and speed down the stairs and back across New Vale to the cemetery on the edge of town. Crossing bodies and blood, in the distance, she saw Felix fighting Isaac and Ivan, but she didn't worry about it. Finally reaching the cemetery, Jenna leapt to Sheba's side.

Taking Sheba's hand again, Jenna trickled some of the potion down the dying girl's throat. After a minute, Sheba coughed out some blood and leaned up. Jenna watched as the open gashes were sealed up, leaving only scars. Jenna saw the bones and many wounds Sheba had disappear. Sheba had been saved. Tears streaming down Jenna's face, she leaned down and hugged Sheba's little body and held it close. For ten minutes, Jenna just sat there crying and holding Sheba, because Jenna's best friend was back.

XxX

Piers awoke slowly, unsure where he was. After a few moments of disorientation, Piers remembered he had been knocked far away by Karst. Quickly he teleported back to his battleground. The Valeans were semi lucky. It appeared only twenty or so had died, a relatively small number compared to the three-hundred that had fled. Looking around, he saw a blue haired woman on the ground nearby. Realizing Mia was still unconscious, he rushed to her. Instantly healing her, he discovered her injuries actually weren't too bad. She had a number of burns, but that was it; and burns were extremely easy for Mercury Adepts to heal. Flipping her onto her back, Piers quickly healed her. Together, the two Mercury Adepts hurried to New Vale, hoping to be able to treat the wounded. Searching around, Mia and Piers discovered several wounded families and were able to heal them.

While healing a few stray villagers, three Minos Knights showed up, likely hoping to capitalize on the wounded villagers. The Mercury adepts quickly finished healing the villagers and then attack the Minos Knights. Piers rushed forward and plunged his blade into the first Minos knight, killing it quickly. Following up, Mia unleashed several Ice missiles at the second Minos Knight. The third Minos Knight, realizing it would lose, ran. Following after it, the Mercury Adepts chased it into the woods, where Mia's cloak was caught in a tree.

"Mia are you okay?" Piers stopped and asked quickly.

"Yes, I'm fine, go chase the Minos Knight." She shouted out. Piers nodded and ran off after the monster.

Mia twisted and turned in the tree but couldn't escape it, so she ultimately left her large cloak in the tree and returned to New Vale to heal more villagers. After healing several more families, Mia came across Garet and Karst's unconscious forms. Mia stared for a little bit, but decided to help them. Kneeling before Garet, she healed him steadily, but left him unconscious. Then she slowly moved over to Karst and did the same. Since Garet was unconscious, Mia shuffled back to the Fire Adept and slapped him as hard as she could.

Mia stood and began searching for more villagers when a massive force of energy sent any and everyone flying. In the distance, Mia could see to figures fighting each other. Felix and Isaac.

XxX

"We Fight." The evil Felix said.

Within a second, Felix was upon Isaac, swinging the Luna Blade down at the younger Adept. Isaac did an extremely quick barrel roll, narrowly dodging Felix's attack. Rolling onto one knee, Isaac held up the Gaia Blade and blocked a second strike from Felix. Kicking into the ground, Isaac back flipped, dodging Felix's third strike too. Changing to a defensive stance, Isaac leaned back to dodge another strike, then leapt forward and chopped into Felix's right arm. It should have been enough to force Felix to not use his right arm. However, some dark… tentacle thing sprout out of the cut and seemed to yank Felix's arm back together; It had quite possible healed it all together. In his shock, Isaac's battle instincts stopped for a second. But a second was enough for Felix, who swung straight at Isaac's head.

The single second as the Luna Blade neared Isaac's skull seemed to last forever. Isaac watched as the powerful black blade neared his head. Isaac was sure he would die, and he would have, had Ivan not leapt in the way. Tisiphone Edge smashed into the Luna Blade, causing the black blade to go off target barely. Felix took three steps back, and then his eyes started glowing. Turning so that his side faced the two Warriors of Vale, Felix held out the Luna Blade at the Adepts.

"**MOVE**" Felix shouted out.

A massive force exited the Luna Blade and sent the two Warriors of Vale flying over Angara. The duo probably would have flown miles, but they crashed into Mount Aleph, considerably shortening their flight. Ivan was unconscious instantly, luckily, he fell on a ledge. Isaac slid down onto the ledge and did his best to heal Ivan. Isaac kneeled next to his friend and poured extra Psynergy into his friend… a move that ultimately saved his life.

As Isaac ducked, the Luna Blade soared barely above Isaac. Thinking quickly, Isaac kicked Felix's leg, cracking the elder Adept's knee. Whirling around, Isaac punched Felix in the face, and then quickly plunged the Gaia Blade into Felix's gut. The wound should have killed Felix, but it did not. Felix lashed out quickly, pushing Isaac back. With the Gaia Blade still in his gut, Felix charged Isaac, warping as soon as he touched Isaac. The duo warped back to New Vale, landing near the Psynergy stone. Knowing that if Felix's Psynergy was brought back to full power nothing would stop him; Isaac summoned a large earth spire and sent it crashing into the Psynergy stone, obliterating the large construct.

Looking at his opponent head on, Isaac realized he had no weapon other than Psynergy. Thinking quickly, Isaac rushed to Felix's semi-destroyed house. Rushing inside, Isaac frantically looked through the boxes and containers, to no avail.

"Looking for this?" Isaac's opponent asked.

Isaac turned around and saw Felix holding the Sol Blade in his left hand, while the Luna Blade was in Felix's right hand.

Isaac cursed his luck before replying. "Yeah, I was looking for it, would you kindly hand it over?" Isaac asked.

Felix chuckled to himself and then shook his head. "No, of course not, with this, you would have potential to defeat me, and I won't let that happen."

Shifting into a dual-wielding stance, Felix prepared for the battle. Rushing forward, Felix swung for a decapitation strike, only to be blocked by a sword. Felix looked at this unexpected opponent, and in shock, saw that it was Jenna, his own sister. Forgoing words, Felix moved like lightning, swinging his blade just as fast. However, to Felix's amazement, Jenna could keep up with him. Soon his shock turned to anger, and his strength increased too. After a few more strikes, Phaeton's Blade went flying across the field. Felix danced with his blades, giving Jenna multiple small cuts. In anger, the young Mars Adept unleashed a large blast of Psynergy, engulfing some of Felix's armor. In his anger, Felix sent his own blast of power back, sending the Mars Adept onto her back. Walking close, Felix prepared for a decapitation.

Felix began his strike, only to be tackled by Isaac. Both blades fell, and both combatants dove for different ones. Felix pounced onto the Luna Blade while Isaac acquired the Sol Blade. Both warriors turned around and faced each other again. Swinging at each other, the blades met perfectly, and both warriors pushed with all their might. The Venus Adepts faced each other, and Sol met Luna once again.

XXX

Jenna and Sheba crept through the woods slowly, hoping to avoid all the monsters that Felix and Karst had brought with them. Jenna was also making sure that the duo went extra slow so that Sheba wouldn't have to fight, as the young Jupiter Adept had only just been come back. Despite Sheba reassuring Jenna that she was okay, Jenna doubted it. The young girl was sixteen, and had been killed and subsequently brought back as an avatar of darkness and sent to the brink of death again, only to be brought back.

Stepping up onto a log, Jenna saw a small hill and slowly walked towards it. Checking to make sure Sheba was still behind her, Jenna crept to the top and lay down, scouting the terrain ahead. Just ahead were two large Minos Warriors. Both looked quite menacing, and seemed to be adorned with dark marks. Luckily, the large behemoths hadn't noticed Sheba or Jenna. Jenna stopped and watched for a moment. If she went to the right then she would be going deeper into the woods, and if she went to the left, there would be a short dash in between two trees. Then they would be in New Vale. '_Well, formerly New Vale,'_ Jenna thought as she surveyed the town-turned-battlefield.

Most of the building had missing walls or large chunks that were simply gone. The extremely few buildings that didn't have missing chucks had shattered glass and large cracks on the walls. The previously beautiful stone roads and grass were gone, replaced with brown dirt. The large pavilion had collapsed on itself, and the massive Psynergy stone had been destroyed. Shaking her head in dismay, Jenna turned her attention back to the Minos Warriors.

The behemoths appeared to be combing the woods for any remaining villagers. But they were going by slowly. Luckily for the girls, the behemoths had their backs to them. Signaling Sheba, the girls crouched and quietly walked down the hill. Slowly, the girls passed the Minos Warriors. _Almost there,_ Jenna thought to herself. Jenna was in the clearing now, ecstatic, Jenna did a small fist pump. _Yes we're clear now I just have to fi-_ CRACK! Jenna jumped two feet in the air in shock. Turning around quickly, Jenna realized that Sheba had stepped on and broken a twig. Both girls turned and faced the Minos Warriors before them. Gulping, Jenna pulled out Phaeton's Blade and rushed in front of Sheba.

Calming herself, Jenna unleashed a torrent of Mars Psynergy at the Minos Warriors. The dark marks on the warriors started glowing, and they seemed to not be wounded by the attack. Growling, Jenna rushed at the warriors with her blade flailing. Phaeton's Blade cut into both warriors. Not deeply, but still, a cut is a cut. Doing a quick back-flip, Jenna let out a ferocious scream. Screaming, Jenna let out a powerful Beam attack, causing a large hole to appear in one of the Minos Warriors. Doing a quick jump to the side, Jenna unleashed a second Beam. This one took off the Minos Warriors head, effectively killing him. Jenna rushed forward and swung at the only remaining Minos Warrior, slicing at his leg, the Warrior simply kicked back, sending Jenna at least ten feet towards New Vale… unfortunately Phaeton's Blade slid further, out of Jenna's reach.

Staring the warrior in the eyes, Jenna gulped. The behemoth punched Jenna, then again, and again. Blinking slowly, Jenna looked out into the distance. Looking carefully, she saw powerful gusts destroying New Vale. The gusts were apparently being generated from the force of Isaac and Felix's blows. Gulping, Jenna hoped that Isaac would be able to save the world. Jenna flipped onto her back, and looked up at the Minos Warrior. Pouring all her Psynergy into a final attack, Jenna prepared to destroy it. However, before she could fire her beam, several bolts of plasma descended from the sky and into the Minos Warrior. It stood there momentarily, and then fell to the ground dead. Jenna turned around and saw Sheba, who suddenly looked very tired. Together, the girls hurried down into New Vale.

XXX

Block. Duck. Roll. Swing. Isaac was surviving by pure instinct. Isaac didn't think about what he was doing, he simply acted. While rolling, dodging slashing and blocking, Isaac hoped for an opening, but couldn't see any. Reaching up, Isaac blocked Mask's strike at the handle of the Luna Blade. The duo traded blows again and again, but nothing seemed to change. Quickly, Isaac swung low, and to his amazement, Felix was a fraction of a second to slow, and his leg received a deep wound. Bellowing out loud, Felix briefly stopped fighting. However, it was long enough for Isaac, who plunged the Sol Blade into Felix's chest. Dropping the Luna Blade, Felix screamed even louder.

"**CESSATION"** screamed Felix. Instantly, three massive blades appeared in the sky and began to hone in on Isaac. Isaac was thrown to the ground, and then pierced by the blades. After a moment of pure pain, the blades exploded in Psynergy, wounding Isaac further.

As Isaac began to stand up, Felix screamed "**CESSATION**" again, and then again and again.

Ultimately, hundreds of blades slammed into Isaac and then exploded in Psynergy. By the time the onslaught of blades was done, Isaac was bleeding almost everywhere. The bones in his arms were cracked, and his knee was shattered. Closing his eyes, the Venus Adept prepared himself for death. The only thing her regretted was being unable to defeat Felix. However, it apparently wasn't Isaac's time to go, as death refused to take him. Sitting up, Isaac wasn't even sure how he was even alive, it made no sense. A single Cessation should have killed him. Then, Isaac felt it. IT!

XXX

Jenna and Sheba were nearing the battle area, when they saw hundreds of blades descend from the sky and sank into Isaac, and then exploded. Jenna gasped as she saw her boyfriend being slaughtered. Cringing, Jenna was going to attack Felix when she noticed that Isaac's body was glowing. Jenna watched as he slowly stood up. His numerous wounds were gone, replaced by small scars. Isaac reached his hand out towards Felix and unleashed a blast of light, sending the dark Venus Adept flying several yards away. Jenna jumped in the air and clapped her hands. Jenna watched as her boyfriend ran towards Felix. Turning around, Jenna and Sheba scanned the area and noticed a blue haired woman a little ways away. Running that way, Jenna and Sheba were ecstatic.

After a few minutes of walking, the women arrived at the destroyed home of Garet. Seeing both Garet and Karst unconscious, the duo were confused.

"Mia what happened here?" Jenna asked quickly.

"SHEBA? How? What? But you were? What?" Mia asked frantically; completely unsure of how Sheba had been resurrected.

"Stuff happened and long story short, Sheba's back. Now answer me Mia!" Jenna exclaimed.

"um, okay, I came across these two while I was searching for families to heal and now I've been watching the fight between Felix and Isaac. Where have you two been?" Mia asked.

"I fought Karst and then stayed and fought dark Sheba and then healed her and then snuck her back here."

"Dark Sheba? What!" Mia exclaimed.

Deciding to ignore her, Jenna checked Garet's vitals, making sure he was okay. When she knew that he was fine, Jenna shuffled over to Karst. Jenna took a quick breath, then pulled out Phaeton's Blade to kill Karst. First raising the blade up, Jenna brought it down, only for Sheba to catch the blade.

"No Jenna! that isn't how we deal with our foes." Sheba said quietly.

Jenna was momentarily stunned, but then nodded and moved away from Karst's unconscious form. The trio of women watched as the battle between Felix and Isaac heated up.

XXX

Felix's eyes grew bigger when he realized that Isaac was going to be using the power of the Golden Sun. Bracing himself for impact, Felix was launched several yards away. Rolling into a defensive position, Felix unleashed a ball of dark energy at Isaac. The ball went straight at Isaac and smashed into him, but if he was hurt, Isaac didn't show it. If anything, the glowing golden aura around Isaac seemed to increase. Rushing forward, Felix concentrated and unleashed another torrent of quakes. But it did nothing to Isaac. The town itself started to fall apart, but Isaac wasn't hurt in the slightest. Instead, Isaac rushed forward, and wrapped his hand around the Sol Blade. Staring Felix in the eye, Isaac yanked the blade through Felix's stomach, up, and out through his shoulder. Unleashing a second blast of Golden Sun power, Felix went flying a hundred feet into the center of New Vale.

Felix felt pain coursing through him, but his years in Prox taught him to ignore it and keep going. Felix began to sit up, but simply didn't have the strength to stand. Closing his eyes, Felix awaited the final blow. Suddenly, pure darkness entered his being. Then, true unadulterated pain coursed through Felix's entire body. Pain worse than anything Felix had ever felt before. Felix lay there, not doing anything, and then something happened that scared him more than anything else. He moved. The thing was, he didn't tell his body to move. It did it all on its own. Felix was no longer in control.

Isaac walked forward, the Golden Sun feeding him energy, towards Felix. As Isaac walked, he used the Move Psynergy to move the Sol Blade to him. Grasping it, Isaac stopped walking and simply stood before his downed opponent. Isaac prepared for his final blow, only to be blown back several feet. Looking at Felix, Isaac's jaw dropped. Felix's body floated a few feet into the air, then, suddenly, his eyes turned completely black, without any white whatsoever. Anywhere Felix was hurt, suddenly had black tentacles sprout out and heal it. Then, the actual transformation began.

Felix instantly grew two feet, and his armor grew larger as well. Next, the Luna Blade simply appeared in his hand. It too was double in size. Felix's hair grew longer too, reaching down to his waist. Felix's ponytail holder snapped and fell to the ground, releasing Felix's plentiful hair. In addition to length, Felix's hair had also turned jet black. Felix's muscles bulged. Gripping the Luna Blade tightly, Felix roared out a war cry.

"**I AM APOCALYPSE, DESTROYER OF WEYARD, AND OVERLORD OF DARKNESS." **Felix-Apocalypse screamed.

With that, Apocalypse leapt straight at Isaac, who swiftly dodged thanks to the Golden Sun. However, Apocalypse rebounded and quickly swung to his right, and attack that Isaac barely dodged. After doing a quick back-flip, Isaac unleashed a bit of pure Psynergy at Apocalypse, knocking the gargantuan back a step. Angry, Apocalypse rushed forward and smashed the Luna Blade into the ground, sending an earthquake throughout New Vale. Screeching, Apocalypse rushed forward and struck out with his blade, but Isaac deflected the attack using the Sol Blade. Instead of pressing a sword attack, Apocalypse took a step back and summoned up a massive ball of darkness. Holding it above his head, Apocalypse threw the darkness at Isaac.

For a second, everything was dark, and then, Isaac emerged from the darkness unscathed. Standing up straight, Isaac focused the power of the Golden Sun, and then unleashed Psynergy in the shape of a golden eagle at Apocalypse. This attack actually sent the large entity back a few steps. Taking a moment to brace himself, Isaac lifted up the Sol Blade in a defensive position. Apocalypse also took a step back, and prepared another ball of darkness. Holding it above his head, Apocalypse put Dark Psynergy into the ball and then threw it at Isaac.

To his credit, Isaac tried to deflect the blow with the Sol Blade. Unfortunately, the darkness still crashed into Isaac and sent him flying. Slowly, Isaac stood, this time it hurt far more than before. Raising his blade, Isaac rushed forward at Apocalypse. Easily, Apocalypse blocked the strike with the Luna Blade, then moved forward and launched Isaac back several yards. Quickly, Isaac unleashed a blast of the Golden Sun at Apocalypse. Screaming, Apocalypse was slightly wounded, afterwards the behemoth lunged forward at Isaac, smashing down with the Luna Blade.

Isaac was sent deep into the ground. In anger, Isaac ran forward and swung the Sol Blade into the Luna Blade. Isaac quickly swung up at Apocalypse head, which the entity blocked with a flick of his blade. Discouraged, Isaac swung low at Apocalypse legs, yet again, the entity blocked the blow. Isaac was getting quite discouraged; Apocalypse had the skill of several masters, presumably from the ancients. It seemed that Isaac could not win. Gulping, Isaac sprinted at Apocalypse and swung the blade as powerfully as he could at Apocalypse. Apocalypse blocked the blow, but stumbled in the process. Angrily, the entity unleashed a massive blast of dark energy. Isaac looked at the coming darkness and closed his eyes, preparing for pain.

XXX

Piers was worried. He had chased and killed the Minos Knight fairly quickly, yet when he returned to her previous destination, she was gone, yet her coat was still there. Piers was unsure, what exactly this meant, which worried him. Piers cut the coat out of the tree and took it with him, intent on returning it to her. Piers was able to escape from the forest without further incident. Once he emerged, Piers was shocked, New Vale was all but gone! All but the smallest most steady and fortified buildings were left, and those all had massive cracks and holes in it. Even the ground itself had huge cracks in it. Deciding that he needed to focus on saving the town rather than looking at it, Piers rushed down into the devastated town.

Piers had to be careful to avoid the multitude of massive cracks in the ground. Looking around, Piers noticed a few figures in the distance near a semi-destroyed house. With a jolt of shock, Piers realized that the semi-destroyed house was Garet's families' house. Sprinting there quickly, Piers discovered that Mia was alive and okay, as was Jenna, and apparently… Sheba? Completely confused, Piers decided to focus on the present, it was then that he noticed Garet and Karst unconscious on the ground.

Stepping just behind Mia, Piers realized that no one was talking to each other or anyone else. They were all focused on the fight between Isaac and the thing that Isaac was fighting. The battle looked quite epic, both combatants were obviously powerful. Apparently Isaac had been pushed to his limits, because the Golden Sun had come out. But Isaac was still losing, the monstrosity was insanely powerful. That it could even withstand the Golden Sun was amazing, let alone defeat it was simply awesome.

Daring to take his eyes of the fight, Piers turned and spoke. "Mia, is Garet alright?" Piers asked as he handed her coat back to her.

Mia nodded slowly, "Yeah… he's fine." Mia didn't take her eyes off the fight when she spoke, although she did put on her large coat.

Piers walked over to Garet, and slowly shook him awake. Garet was up instantly in a defensive position; honed instincts taking over completely. Garet was also shaking incredibly, due to his fear consuming personality. After a Moment, Garet relaxed his defensive position.

"Isaac's losing, he will need our help." Piers said directly to Garet. However, Garet didn't move at all, he seemed too scared to do anything but stare. Ignoring Garet, Piers turned to Mia and asked. "Do you know where Ivan is at?" Mia simply pointed at Mt. Aleph off in the distance.

Not wasting time, Piers teleported to the summit of Mt. Aleph. Looking down, he saw Ivan unconscious on a ledge. Teleporting there, Piers set about healing him. After a few minutes, Ivan was perfectly fine. Taking his comrade with him, Piers teleported back to the destroyed town. Looking around, Piers took a moment to replenish his Psynergy reserves with a psy-crystal.

"Guys, let's go, Isaac needs our help." Piers walked forward and grasped Excalibur in his hand.

However, just as the group started walking towards the battlefield, a massive sphere of dark Psynergy rose above the entities head. Then, in a soul-shattering moment, the sphere descended into Isaac, and left a massive scar in the ground… and Isaac was nowhere to be seen. Rushing forward, the remaining Warriors of Vale ran towards the entity before them. Out of the corner of his eye, Piers noticed that Garet had stayed behind.

Reaching the gargantuan, they looked up at him. Standing over nine feet tall, the entity was quite intimidating. Its armor had small cracks and simply added to the intimidation. The Luna Blade itself looked magnificent, shining like the vibrant moon; it would have been beautiful if it hadn't been for the entity holding it. They were at a brief stand still: When the Warriors of Vale were united they were unstoppable, but at the moment, they weren't. Isaac and Felix, there leaders, were dead or evil, and Garet was too scared of what could happen to fight.

The Warriors of Vale readied themselves for the fight of their lives. Jenna drew forth Phaeton's Blade and rushed the entity. Using Psynergy, Jenna leapt high and swung at the entities' face, but the entity easily blocked the blow and launched Jenna back to the ground.

"_**I AM APOCALYPSE, NONE CAN DEFEAT ME, EVEN THE GOLDEN SUN CAN STOP ME. COME FOOLS AND PREPARE YOURSELF FOR DEATH!"**_

Mia summoned up a pantheon of ice missiles and launched them at Apocalypse. The many missiles crashed into Apocalypse's armor, the first attack that made Apocalypse bleed, or rather Felix's body bleed. Leaping back, Mia unleashed a few more Ice Missiles, but Apocalypse easily swatted them aside. Mia gulped as she continued walking back, Apocalypse was approaching, and he looked mad. Mia jumped back to dodge the Luna Blade, but tripped and fell backwards in the process. Mia looked up in pure terror as the behemoth of darkness stalked towards her.

Piers saw Mia's predicament, and swept to the rescue, teleporting just in time to block Apocalypse's blow! But, Apocalypse had quite a bit of strength behind his blade, so much so, that Piers sank a foot into the ground. Luckily, Piers was able to teleport him and Mia away. Appearing behind the intimidating entity, Piers plunged Excalibur into the back of Apocalypse's knee. The monster didn't even flinch; instead it whirled around and swung at the Adepts. Piers ducked down and felt the Luna Blade cut off a bit of his hair. In order to survive, Piers teleported himself and Mia a little ways away to brief safety.

Ivan charged Apocalypse with Tisiphone Edge, ready for vengeance. Apocalypse swung a powerful blow at Ivan, but the Jupiter Adept did a quick cartwheel to move out of the way. Jumping forward, Ivan summoned the winds to carry him up to Apocalypse. Slashing quickly, Apocalypse received several blows to the head before swatting the powerful Adept to the ground. Ivan was tough though, and flipped back up onto his feet. Dodging another blow from Apocalypse, Ivan leapt up and jabbed his blade into Apocalypse's arm. The entity roared in pain, and then threw Ivan very hard into the ground. Jumping back, Ivan reformed into a defensive position. Apocalypse let out a dark smirk, and prepared another ball of dark Psynergy. Holding it above his head, the entity threw it down at Ivan, engulfing the Jupiter Adept, and very nearly killing him.

Luckily, Jenna and Mia leapt to his rescue. Jenna rushed forward and swung at the Luna Blade. Apocalypse laughed and easily dodged the attack. Quickly, he knocked Jenna in the back of her head with the hilt of the Luna Blade. Jenna fell to the ground wounded. Jenna slowly moved up to her hands and knees and felt the back of her head. Jenna looked at her hand and saw that it had blood all over it. Jenna gulped and stood up, clutching Phaeton's Blade close. Luckily, Jenna noticed, Apocalypse had moved on to another opponent.

Meanwhile, Mia set about healing Ivan. Using her healing techniques, Mia poured Psynergy into him, gradually restoring his condition. Mia smiled as she saw Ivan's consciousness restored. Glancing up, Mia's smile disappeared. Apocalypse was standing over her with the Luna Blade held high. Mia quickly summoned ice missiles, but Apocalypse easily shrugged them off. Mia gulped as she accepted her defeat. Mia stared the Luna Blade down, and waited for the blow to come.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO."

Mia watched as a powerful, strong and angry Adept smashed into Apocalypse, and sent the entity back several feet.

"I WON'T LET YOU HURT MIA!" Garet screamed as he began wailing blows upon Apocalypse.

Unfortunately, Apocalypse wasn't immobilized for long, the entity stood, and knocked Garet onto the ground. However, Garet stood quickly and leapt into Apocalypse. Working quickly, Garet plunged Vulcan's Might into Apocalypse's chest.

"KAMIKAZE INFERNO!" Garet screamed as a massive blast of fire exploded from Vulcan's Might and eviscerated everything within a fifteen foot radius.

Nearly everything was gone. Bushes were gone. The ground beneath Garet now had a fifteen foot crater in it. Garet himself had been blown unconscious from the attack. He had put everything he had into it… yet it still wasn't enough. Apocalypse stood slowly; his armor, that previously had cracks in it, was now gone. Any skin Apocalypse once had was completely gone, replaced with an blood, muscle and tissue. Slowly, the entity walked out of the crater, still holding the Luna Blade, which was now glowing red with heat.

Slowly, the behemoth walked towards the remaining Warriors of Vale. Piers rushed forward, hoping that Apocalypse was on the ropes, and swung Excalibur at the entity. Apocalypse countered easily, and then swiped the Luna Blade into Piers' side, instantly causing Piers to bleed. Quickly, Apocalypse followed up his attack with a blow to Piers' head; luckily, Apocalypse used the hilt instead of the blade. So instead of being dead, Piers was merely greatly wounded. Apocalypse continued walking forward, reaching Mia within seconds. Quickly, Apocalypse sent a blast of dark Psynergy at her, sending her flying several feet. Then, Apocalypse used the Psynergy "Move" to launch Mia hundreds of feet into the center of New Vale. Finally, Apocalypse reached Ivan, who, thanks to Mia, was completely healed. Putting his all into it, Ivan stood back and unleashed his strongest attack.

"THUNDER SOUL!" Ivan screamed.

Instantly, the thunder roared, and a storm came about. Nanoseconds later, lightning burst from Tisiphone Edge and struck Apocalypse. Then lightning came out of the raining clouds and slammed into Apocalypse. Finally, plasma bolted from the sky and incinerated Apocalypse. For a half a second, Ivan thought he had won. Then, Apocalypse kept walking. Ivan cringed. He was completely out of Psynergy, he had put everything into Thunder Soul, but it had failed. But, Ivan accepted his defeat, and stood still as the Luna Blade smashed into him and sent him flying into New Vale.

There was only one left, Apocalypse realized. Jenna the Mars Adept was left, and she would die easily, Apocalypse decided. Quickly, the entity approached the terrorized girl. He stood still and watched, taking a moment of respite. In a few minutes, this body would give out, and he would be reduced to a bodiless spirit. Apocalypse had been stuck that way for over two years, and it had not been fun. If it hadn't been for the fact that Agatio was dead in the Mars Lighthouse, then Apocalypse would likely still be a spirit, wondering aimlessly across Weyard. Grinning to himself, Apocalypse prepared to kill the young Mars Adept and take her body for himself. With a devilish smile, Apocalypse raised the Luna Blade and prepared a strike to kill Jenna, last of the Warriors of Vale.

XxX

Isaac was sure that the only reason he had survived Apocalypse strike was because of the Golden Sun. Isaac was also sure, that his friends were going to be defeated. But, there wasn't anything Isaac could do. He was lying in a crater immobilized. The Golden Sun was healing him, restoring scratches to scars, scarps to wholeness, and burns to normal skin. Isaac had been lying there for only about five minutes, but he could hear his friends being defeated. Isaac had heard the Kamikaze Inferno go off, but then he heard a sword swing, so he knew it hadn't been enough to kill Apocalypse. Then, it had started raining, or rather storming. The rain was so thick, that Isaac could barely see anything. Although his jacket had many holes in it, it was still mostly intact, and now was soaking wet. Then Isaac realized something, he could feel his legs again, which, meant that he could continue to fight.

Isaac quickly crawled to the edge of the crater, and saw that Apocalypse was standing before Jenna, the only conscious Warrior of Vale in sight. Working quickly, Isaac pulled himself out of the crater while simultaneously taking a potion and psy-crystal from the small ouch on his belt. Isaac also gripped the Sol Blade with his hands. Isaac quickly and quietly walked towards Apocalypse, hoping to catch him off-guard. Isaac was near Apocalypse, when he saw that the entity had raised the Luna Blade above his head, and was preparing to kill Jenna.

It was then, at that very moment, that rage coursed through every vein in Isaac's body. Somehow, it hadn't been real when Isaac was in the crater. Isaac knew that his friends were defeated and possibly dead, but it was different seeing it before you, watching as your closest friend was about to be slaughtered. Somehow, Isaac's rage seemed to amplify the Golden Sun. Suddenly, his strength, speed, reflexes, mind and healing factor had quadrupled. Suddenly, Isaac had the ability to stop Jenna's dead. Suddenly, Isaac had the ability to not just defeat Apocalypse, but destroy him.

Suddenly, Isaac was before her, blocking the blow meant for Jenna. Somehow, despite the fact that Apocalypse had put all of his strength into that blow, Isaac didn't even feel hindered. Isaac pushed back, and suddenly, for the first time in the entire battle, Apocalypse _forced_ on the defensive. Isaac launched back Apocalypse with a small blast of the Golden Sun, sending the behemoth back a few feet. Isaac walked forward, not even holding the Sol Blade in a defensive manner. Isaac put his hand forward and unleashed another blast of the Golden Sun, this one larger than the first. Instantly, Apocalypse was flying back several feet.

Isaac leaned back and readied Flint, one of his most trusted Djinn. As Isaac readied Flint, he realized part of why he had instantly become better than before. For some, unknown reason, the Djinn of the Warriors of Vale had all come flooding to him. Isaac didn't know why nor did he care. Though, if he were to guess, it would be because the Golden Sun had shown itself long enough for the Djinn to travel to Isaac. Anyway, Isaac decided that instead of unleashing Flint, he would instead, summon forth his strongest ally.

Isaac closed his eyes and unleashed the strongest summon that the Warriors of Vale had: Iris. Apocalypse had slowly stood up, and had rushed towards Isaac. But, before Apocalypse could even reach the powerful Venus Adept, a massive entity had appeared in the sky. The entity, Iris, sent several blast of her energy at Apocalypse, engulfing the juggernaut of evil, and severely wounding him. Simultaneously, Iris healed all of the Warriors of Vale, though all, save Isaac and Jenna, remained unconscious. On the down side of being rejuvenated, Isaac was now out of Djinn for awhile, which meant that he would be weaker than normal. Isaac looked at Jenna, and quickly affirmed that she was okay. Wary anyway, Isaac tossed her a vial and then sprinted toward Apocalypse.

Currently, the behemoth had summoned up his largest sphere of darkness yet. The word 'massive' couldn't even describe the size of the sphere. Isaac breathed slowly, and then continued his sprint towards Apocalypse. The entity launched the sphere at the young Adept, but Isaac was able to redirect it by using the Golden Sun's power. Apocalypse chuckled as he simply absorbed the sphere back into itself. Apocalypse took the Luna Blade and swung down, but Isaac blocked it with the Sol Blade. The duo continued to trade blows, neither out doing the either.

Both were weakened from the fight. Apocalypse was definitely the better swordsmen, but he was terrible weak due to Thunder Soul and Kamikaze Inferno. Isaac grunted as he leapt back to dodge a surprisingly quick slash, only to receive a massive scrap across his chest. Isaac panted back and forth, he needed to end this quickly before he got sloppy and made a mistake that would cost him his life. Isaac launched himself back as far as he could, and prepared himself for the unleash of the Sol Blade. Apocalypse seemed to have the same idea, as he also moved back several feet and prepared to leap.

This was it, both combatants thought to themselves, whoever wins this part, will win it all. As Isaac leapt into the air, he noticed Jenna in the corner of his eye; she was holding something in her hand. Isaac turned his attention back to Apocalypse and prepared himself for the end of this battle.

"MEGIDDO!"

"_**EDEN!"**_

Out of the twins swords came to gargantuan orbs of power; one of fire, and one of darkness. The two forces were complete opposites, and one could tell simply by looking that both were trying to gain dominance over the other. But, suddenly, the orb of darkness began to gain dominance! The orb of fire began to grow smaller and smaller. Victory for the orb of fire seemed impossible. But, rapidly, the orb of fire transformed from one of fire, and became an orb of light. It glowed brighter and brighter, eventually eradicating the orb of darkness. Ultimately, the orb of light resembled a Golden Sun… and then, in a flash of light, the battle was over.

XxX

Isaac landed on the ground on both feet, unlike his opponent, who slammed into the ground on its back. Jenna ran towards the two combatants, excited that they had won. The couple crouched before the fallen warrior, and watched as the signs of Apocalypse left. The body shrunk back down to Felix's size, and the black skin that was Apocalypse's disappeared. Unfortunately, the battle wounds were still there.

If one could read Felix's face, then they would know that he was surprised that the darkness was gone.

"How did you do it Isaac?" Felix asked as he coughed out blood.

Isaac smirked and simply replied. "I had the better blade." If Felix could, he would have coughed.

"Isaac, thank you, you've freed me from darkness. Now, I can go towards the light." Felix stumbled out miserably.  
Jenna scooted closer to her brother, and put the potion to his lips. "Brother, this will heal you, drink it, please."

Again, if they could have seen the emotions on Felix's faces, they would have seen true shock. Nodding his head, Felix gulped down the remainder of the potion. Instantly, his body was healed. Where it originally showed blood, tissue, fat, and muscles, it now showed skin, with scars. Every single thing that was wrong with Felix was instantly healed. In true happiness, Isaac and Jenna hugged Felix close. Although today would always be remembered as a tragedy to New Vale, it also marked the day of Felix's redemption.

The Warriors of Vale now knew, that whatever crisis they faced, they would always have _**hope**_.

A/N: So, that was it. There will be an epilogue, but it won't work like a normal chapter. It will probably be fitted out like my the prologue to my newest story. Now if you read this chapter, I would greatly appreciate it if you took a small amount of time and review it like EpicPillowcase does, its super uplifting to know that someone likes your work, and is looking forward to it. Now to respond to EpicPillowcase's suggestion: Alex does appear at the end of Colosso, but it was really random, he also appears in Mia's dream whenever she was dying. But I'm going to tell you my original ending, which is why Alex appeared all those times (Oh and I vaguely remember something in Dark Dawn saying that the Warriors of Vale hadn't seen Alex in thirty years which is why I tried to minimize his appearances), but any way. ORIGINAL ENDING: At the Apojji Islands, Mask was going to drop the ingredients, (To the potion that heals Garet) off of Weyard and Matthew wasn't going to die there. Mia and Garet were going to have a quick marriage, a night together, and then Garet would die, with his last wish that Mia name the child Tyrell. Then Mia would discover that she was pregnant and name the child Tyrell, and later give birth to Rief and Nowell. Also, Alex was going to be the mastermind in charge of everything, but then I started thinking of a sequel, and switched Alex with Apocalypse. Originally, Alex was going to be the Mask at Colosso whenever Felix was in the same place as Mask. At the final battle, Alex was going to come and try to kill Jenna, and at the last second Matthew would jump in the way, his last words basically saying 'be with Isaac' consequently, Jenna and Isaac would work together to stop Alex. Subsequently, Isaac and Jenna would eventually have a son and name him Matthew after the original Matthew. I changed the ending so that it would fit with Golden Sun canon, (which is stupid since there is a 99.99% chance that this isn't what happened between TLA and DD.) and with the sequel. For the record, Mask was always Felix, I got the idea from a Duskshipping fic that mentions something about Felix's inner rage. On a final note, I posted a Prologue to Mass Effect: The Terminus War, which is my next project.

Lastly, if anyone has any final questions that I didn't answer in this chapter, please ask them in the review and I will try to answer them in the epilogue.


	13. The Epilogue

_**The Epilogue:**_

_**Isaac:**_ Isaac proposed to Jenna, and married her. The duo had several long years before they decided to have children, unfortunately, the Great Healer didn't think Jenna would be able to have kids. A few years later, Jenna miraculously became pregnant. After nine months, the couple had a son, who they named Matthew; after the friend who had died saving Jenna. Isaac and Jenna had a happy life together until the Mourning Moon hit, destroying much of Angara. After the second Mourning Moon, Isaac moved in with Garet and their sons to watch Mt. Aleph, where they suspected the Mourning Moon was coming from. Isaac wants to protect all of Weyard, and he might actually succeed.

_**Jenna:**_ Jenna was thrilled when Isaac proposed to her, and accepted right away. The couple had several years together before true tragedy struck: Jenna might not be able to have kids. The duo went through a rough patch, but luckily, a few years later, Jenna became pregnant. Later she gave birth to a son that the couple named Matthew, after their friend that had saved Jenna's life. After the second Mourning Moon, Jenna stayed behind in Kalay instead of going with Isaac and Garet to a cabin to watch Mt. Aleph. She had a fairly boring life there, but managed to cope. Luckily for Jenna, Matthew visited her once a month, and Jenna visited Matthew once a month.

_**Mia:**_ Even after his heroic attack against Apocalypse, Mia still left Garet. Her love had changed for forever, and she didn't think he would ever become the Garet that she loved again. After the battle of New Vale, Mia traveled back to Imil, her hometown. There, she settled down as the Great Healer. Several years later, Mia healed a wondering traveler. The traveler fell in love with Mia, and, after several months, married her. The duo had a pair of twins, Rief and Nowell. A few years after the birth of her twins, Mia's husband died. Mia has remained a widow since then.

_**Garet:**_ After Mia left the Warriors of Vale, Garet sank into depression. He sank his sores in alcohol, quickly becoming a wandering, penniless drunk. Garet went to hundreds of parties, where everyone would get drunk. However, there was one specific party that changed Garet's life. Garet went to the party and did what he normally did: eat, drink and sleep. Nine months after that specific party, Garet had a basket delivered to his door, it held his son. Garet named the boy Tyrell, and changed his entire life simply for that boy. Garet quit drinking and partying, focusing solely on Tyrell. Garet transformed back into his previous personality, all due to his love of Tyrell.

_**Piers:**_ After the battle, Piers became a major trader throughout the coastal cities. Piers was quickly able to create a powerful business empire, by initiating trade between Lemuria and the rest of the world. Piers led a successful life: He lived on the seas, and had the money to buy whatever he wanted, except Mia, his love. Piers never had another love of his life, or at least not yet.

_**Ivan:**_ After the battle, Ivan led the refugees of New Vale to Kalay, where the two peoples were integrated. Not long after the battle, Hamnet died, and Ivan replaced him as mayor of Kalay. A few years later, Ivan made a trade mission down to Xian, where he met Feizhi again. The duo fell in love, and married secretly. The couple could only meet a few times a year, but when they did they made it count. Several years later, the couple had a daughter, Karis. Karis was a Jupiter Adept like her parents and both were immensely proud of her. Ultimately, Ivan and Feizhi's marriage was revealed, but surprisingly, no one was angry about it, instead, Xian and Kalay also integrated together, and Feizhi, Ivan and Karis stayed together year round. After the second Mourning Moon, Ivan quit as mayor and used his wealth to invent new technologies to help people.

_**Sheba:**_ After the battle, Sheba went back to her home, in Lalivero. Sheba was well received there, everyone loved her, and some even worshipped her, thinking she was a child of deities, they were wrong of course. Sheba stayed there for a while, before relocating to Kalay after the first Mourning Moon. Sheba stayed there for a long time, and helped heal many people. Sheba also saved Felix and his son after the second Mourning Moon, though she was too late to save Karst. Afterwards, Felix looked at Sheba not as a girl, but as a woman. Six months later, the couple married, and nine months after that, Sheba gave birth to a son. Sheba stayed with Felix, and cared for all of his children, even the ones that had been Karst's.

_**Felix:**_ After the battle, Felix was horrified at what he had done to the people of New Vale, and swiftly left his people, out of guilt of his actions. Only a very few actually blamed Felix for the battle, but Felix didn't know that. After the battle, Felix continually traveled the world with Karst, for several years. The couple eventually had a son, Drake. Unfortunately, Karst was killed during the second Mourning Moon. Felix was devastated, and quit taking care of himself, and if it hadn't been for Sheba, he would have died. After spending a few months with Sheba, Felix saw that she had grown older and stronger; she was no longer a girl, but a woman. Strangely enough, Felix had fallen in love again. Sheba still had feelings for Felix, so the couple was married. The marriage produced a single child, though Sheba still took care of and loved Felix's other children.

_**Karst:**_ Despite being possessed by a tendril of evil, Karst survived due to Apocalypse reverting back to being a spirit. After the battle, Karst traveled with Felix across all of Weyard. The duo had several adventures together, and married. The marriage produced two healthy powerful children. Unfortunately for Karst, she and Felix returned to Angara, only for the second Mourning Moon to erupt. The vortex destroyed many towns and cities, and supposedly killed Karst.

_**New Vale:**_ After the battle, the refugees of New Vale were dejected. Their home had been destroyed for a second time. So, Ivan volunteered for New Vale to join with Kalay. The refugees traveled to Kalay with help from the Warriors of Vale, integrated successfully with them.

_**Apocalypse:**_ After his defeat, Apocalypse escaped from Felix's body just in time to avoid true death. If the host ever died while Apocalypse inhabited them, then Apocalypse would die as well. Apocalypse was in spirit form, for now. Traveling in spirit form required massive amounts of power. It was so much that it took Apocalypse several weeks, just to get to Vault, a close by town. Apocalypse was gone for now, but he would return, and when he did, he would be stronger than ever before.

_**Author's Notes:**_ And that is it. The sequel, Pain of Darkness won't be started soon. I'm going to work on the Terminus War for a while before I start the sequel. When it does start, it'll concern both the Warriors of Vale, and the children of Vale. It will contain Flashback sections, and feature Apocalypse as a main antagonist, in addition to the Tuaparang, and perhaps a few others. Thanks for staying with me, this has been fun. =)


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